


The Quest for Happines

by charmed92



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Affairs, Age Regression/De-Aging, Cheating, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, hidden identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-01 16:12:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13298487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmed92/pseuds/charmed92
Summary: Two years after the Second Wizarding War Ginny Weasley feels numb, unhappy and stuck in a job she doesn't want and a relationship that doesn't fulfill her. After a drunken night in a pub with a handsome man, Ginny begins to rebel against the expectations of the Wizarding world and changes her life. Will her affair with the mysterious Sage Prince bring her happiness? And who is he?





	1. Prologue - Blissful Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> Dear readers,
> 
> this is my first fanfiction in English and as English isn't my first language, I hope that you can excuse some mistakes in grammar or spelling. I vow to check each text before posting it, but mistakes can still occur. If you find anything too obvious and disturbing, I encourage you to point it out to me, because I can only improve, if I know my mistakes. Regardless of this writing insecurities, I would like to tell you more about my story whose idea popped up in my mind today. I always love stories that reserve a happy ending for my favorite character, Severus Snape. And today I thought "Well, why don't you write your own story?". So, I started typing this. Let be warned, that the story is very AU, non-canon and only for adult readers because it contains detailed descriptions of sexual and violent nature and darker themes like depression, self-harm, and self-hate. It's inspired by many wonderful fanfictions that I read, but the storylines and characterizations of my characters arise from my mind. I hope, you enjoy reading it and leave me some reviews with your feedback. It will play after the Second Wizarding War, that Severus Snape survived. The main protagonists are Ginny Weasley and Severus Snape (pairing GW/SS). If you don't like this pairing, please refrain from reading it.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which belongs exclusively to J.K. Rowling. I don't earn any money from writing it.

Prologue – Blissful Happiness

Prince Cottage, Cornwall, March 2002

Ginny Weasley opened her sleepy eyes slowly, tightened her embrace on her blissfully sleeping lover and smiled happily thanks to seeing the sun shining through the window and hearing the bird chirping their own tunes. Ginny loved waking up like this. Listening to the sound of nature, being woken up by the first sunbeams of the day and feeling the body heat of her lover. The smell of sweat, sex and the unique scent of her love, a unique and intoxicating combination of sandalwood, herbs and mint, lingered in the air. A pink blush graced her cheeks as memories of the previous night of passion penetrated her mind. She turned her head around, letting her sheet fall beneath her naked rosy breasts and studied her sleeping hero with adoration. He looked so young and handsome, his sweaty, shortened midnight-black hair clung to his forehead, his luscious, pale lips stood lightly open and his royal, straight nose gave his face character. All wrinkles, frowns and aging lines were washed away. His black satin sheets only sparely covered him, so that she could admire his lean, packed with subtle muscles body. She could not take her amber-brown eyes away from his hairless, toned chest, his rock-hard six-pack and the little, black hairline, that went from his navel to his well-endowed male genitals. His pale, muscular and covered with fine black hair legs were intertwined with her own pale, creamy white legs and his pale, strong arms held her in a tight hug. Ginny could feel his morning erection pocking in her soft stomach and a new wave of lust rushed through her. Sometimes she couldn't believe how a simple touch with his long, pale and spidery fingers, a deep gaze from his beautiful, onyx-black eyes or a whispered word in his deep, husky baritone could turn her on so easily.

Ginny, as an independent, beautiful and straightforward young witch in her early twenties, wasn't a blushing virgin and stranger to sex before she engaged in her affair two years ago. She lost her virginity to her boyfriend Dean Thomas in her fifth year in Hogwarts, had an awkward, motivated by the fear of the Final Battle and a cry for comfort one-night stand with Neville Longbottom and a loving, filled with tons of enthusiastic sex and sexual experiments teenage romance with the boy of her dreams. Harry Potter. But her sexual interactions with her secret lover showed her the true meaning of making love, becoming one and enjoying oneself. He was so gentle, selfless and passionate during their love sessions, that she often cried tears of joy and experienced multiple mind-blowing orgasms. He knew exactly which spot he needed to touch to drive her crazy or in which angle to penetrate her vagina to drive her over the edge. But the part she loved the most about their trysts wasn't the mind-boggling, satisfying and creative sex or his very talented, generous tongue in oral sex, but the moment when they reached their peaks while screaming each other's names and looking deep in each other's eyes. In this moments, as amber-brown met onyx-black and their tongues were interlocked in passionate, heartrate-quickening kisses, she believed, that they could see in each other's souls and read each other's minds.

She knew that he could understand her like no other human being on the whole earth and that he loved as well as accepted her as the human she was. With all her flaws, imperfections and insecurities, her dark thoughts and actions, that sometimes threatened to consume her, he still loved and understood her endlessly. He cheered her up with jokes when she was sad, comforted her with whispered, soft-spoken encouragements, declarations of love and positive words when she cried and listened closely, with an open mind and sympathetic ear to her sorrows. But he wasn't only her champion in darker times, he also was her first supporter in happier times. He celebrated her success with a romantic candlelight dinner when she designed a praised fashion collection, danced with and hugged her like crazy when she received some good news and encouraged her ideas and research topics when she eagerly planned new fashion lines. Ginny sometimes couldn't believe how much her life has changed in the past two years and at what a happy and self-independent stage in her life she was now. Two years ago, she felt numb, unhappy and stuck in a dead end. Now she felt loved, safe and perfectly happy. If somebody told her sixteen-years-old self that she would find the love of her life in her sourly, sarcastic, cruel and dark Potions Master, she would have enacted an emergency Patronus and let this person be checked out by the psychological healers of St. Mungo's. But Ginny wasn't her sixteen-years-old self anymore and she was so grateful for her romance with Severus. Naturally, they had to master some difficult times, obstacles and issues in the past and their relationship will certainly face some challenges in the future, but Ginny knew that their love could survive anything. Ginny's thoughts were interrupted by a soundly, wet kiss on her lips, followed by a sleepy "Good morning, my love" and a heated, lustful gaze by onyx-black eyes. She couldn't stop herself from snogging the daylights out of her love, straddling his hips and initiating another round of passionate lovemaking. Her life really was pure bliss.


	2. Chapter 1 - An unhappy life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> Dear readers,
> 
> another short update to show a better outline of the storyline. I hope you enjoy it and leave some reviews.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Office Department of Magical Inter-Countries Relationships, Ministry of Magic, January 2000

Ginny Weasley sat with a bored expression behind her desk and sorted some papers. She really hated her job because it was so uncreative, monotone and meaningless. Sure, it paid her bills, made her parents proud and gave her the impression of being a self-independent, strong woman who had her life under control and knows what she wanted. But her job as a secretary to a ministry official in the "Department of Magical Inter-Countries Relationships" was a stopgap solution, something to please her parents and to lull her boyfriend Harry into a false sense of stability. Sure, if she worked hard enough, established a social network of supporter and contacts and prove herself a competent communicator, she could get a promotion, earn more money and go places in the Ministry. But Ginny didn't want to put all her effort into her job and be stuck in an office her whole life. She wanted to be creative, meet new and interesting people and create something new. As the seventh child and only girl in a poor family, Ginny needed to come to terms with well-used hand-me-downs from her elder brothers or second-hand clothes from her female cousins that often weren't very beautiful, unique or trendy. But Ginny knew from a young age, that she should be grateful for having a loving family, caring friends and a chaotic house full of action and life, so she never complained about the state of her clothes.

Instead, she researched ways to optimize her basis and create something beautiful and fashionable out of her ugliest shirts, jeans, and dresses. She researched in many books about design, decorating, sewing, dyeing, and brightening up spells, learned their magic formulas, intonations, and wand movements and put them to use on her clothes. With time she learned more about fashionable cuts, materials, colors, and garments, read more about color and material combinations as well as the differences between Muggle fashion and Wizarding fashion and altered her items with more courage and grace. Beyond that, she started to design her own clothes from scratch by detailed, colorful and unique fashion sketches. She loved drawing since she was a little girl and received praise from everyone for her lovely, colorful drawings of fantasy animals, her family or magical items. Everyone praised her talent and precession for details so that her fashion sketches naturally looked like something out of the Muggle fashion magazines that Hermione loaned her and got admired by her female friends. Although Ginny couldn't afford many trendy materials or paints with her meagerly pocket money and she didn't have much time in Hogwarts for designing thanks to schoolwork, Quidditch and being a Prefect, she put a vast amount of her free time with a happy and contagious enthusiasm into fashion design.

Home at the Burrow she had built her little fashion atelier into a corner of her small room. She financed her design articles like a variety of materials, thread, needles, scissors, colors, mannequins, a sewing table and a well-pad stool with gratuities from her birthdays or Christmas and self-designed clothing articles that she sold for some Gallons to her girlfriends. In her summer vacations, she spent most of her time drawing new fashion sketches, studying new fashion trends, learning new fashion spells and designing clothes on demand of her friends. Her mother complimented her for her eye for colors and true to types (age, complexion, figure) cuts and her friends loved getting fashion advice from her and wearing her clothes. Hermione presented her with Muggle fashion books for each of her birthdays that inspired her with new trends and clothing items. Although Ginny loved the more casual, risky and modern way of Muggle women to dress, she appreciated the simplicity, speed, and seemingly endless opportunities of designing clothes with magic. With a few spells, she could transfigure a loose, basic white T-shirt into a form-hugging, bordeaux red top with a glittery butterfly design or a plain, black Wizarding robe into a gorgeous, breath-taking petrol ball gown with a deep-cut back and lace ruffles. Naturally, she needed to conserve the adjustments with an Everlasting spell and protect them with a Transfiguration-Blocking spell, because otherwise, the changes would dissolve after an amount of time or be open for other transfigurations, but she could create new fashion from practically everything with a few swishes of her wand. She could even protect her designs against fire, water, air, damages, and dirt with a few easy spells and show her designs in a 3D-animation to her girlfriends. In these 3D-animations, that materialized themselves in front of her eyes, she could even use a virtual, identical projection of her friend as a mannequin for e.g. a dress to determine which cuts, colors, styles and decorations she liked the most and were true to her type.

In short, since her teenage years, Ginny dreamed of a successful career as a magical fashion designer that combined Muggle styles with Wizard styles. Ginny even saved some money from her grandaunts and her work as a private tutor in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense against the Dark Arts to be able to afford herself studies in fashion design and economy in the well-known and renowned University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London. But the Second Wizarding War with its painful losses, destructions and physical as well as psychological traumata destroyed her ambitions plans of owning her own fashion label "Gorgeous" in the future.

The death of her beloved brother Fred, the disfiguring and infection with werewolf characteristics of her brave eldest brother Bill, the rift with her self-righteous brother Percy, the fears about the safety as well as the surviving of the Golden Trio and the murder of the demented Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange by her mother in a case of self-defense and defense of her daughter, affected her family heavily. These highly emotional incidents and life-changing actions left deep scars, fears, and grief in every Weasley family member including Hermione and Harry. George was without his twin Fred a shell of his former mischievous self. He closed himself up to his family and stopped joking around the first months after the war and only psychological therapy, the existence of their joke shop and his growing romance with Angelina Johnson let him move on. Percy felt guilty for not sticking around with his family and being a git so that he tried very hard to be the perfect model son and connect with his family again. Bill tried to mask his grief and distress about his new werewolf skills by being the strong rock for his family and his beloved wife Fleur gave him something to look forward. In the moment, they were expecting their first child, a daughter, that they wanted to name "Victoire" to honor the sacrifices of the dead and injured in the War for the victory of the Light. But in the first year after the War, you could see his fear for the safety and health of his family in his over-protectiveness.

Charlie masked his hurt and grief behind a mask of new beginnings. He moved back to Britain and worked as a magizoologist in Scotland. He visited his family as often as he could because he felt guilty for his missed presence and feared for the sanity of his mother. Ron tried to mask the horrors of the Horcrux hound and his sorrow behind focusing on his new romance with Hermione and securing a career as an Auror. His mask only cracked when he saw his mother reduced to tears. Hermione tried to forget her sacrifices in the war and the loss of her parents whose memories she sadly couldn't restore until now by excelling in Hogwarts and fighting for the rights of underprivileged wizards and magical creatures. She visited a psychologist to assimilate the horrors of the war, her new status as a celebrity and her guilt regarding the memory spell. She did cope well enough, but sometimes you could see the light fading out of her eyes and she was lost in her world of regrets. Her dad Arthur assimilated the death of Fred by helping George managing "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" part-time and reminiscing with his wife Molly about the past. He held the family together and supported his beloved wife through her battle with depression, guilt and grief. Ginny really admired him for his strength, but loved him for showing everyone that is was only natural to cry, grieve and struggle with life after the war. His understanding, compassion and positive outlook in the future really was unique.

Her mum Molly went into a psychological coma right after the war. Her soul was split in tiny fragments by the death of her beloved son Fred, her fear for the life of her family and the guilt of taking a life, albeit it was in defense of her loved ones in her case. After her immediate break-down, she tried to function as normal for her family by being the loving mum, brilliant cook, and bossy wife, although she felt numb and moved like a robot. Three months after the funeral of Fred, her brave face crumbled to the ground as she heard one of Fred's favorite songs on the radio. Since then, she battled a severe depression, survivor's guilt and immense pain in her heart with the help of psychological support, the love of her family and the prospect of being a grandma. She wouldn't be the same vibrant, fierce and constantly beaming Molly Weasley ever again because she needed to have her whole family nearby, know about their whereabouts constantly and clung to her children like a desperate, over-protective mother-hen so that her fears and sorrows often mellowed her smiles.

In part out of fear for her mum and to charm a smile into her face, Ginny didn't live her dream of studying fashion design and economy in London but worked as a secretary in the Ministry, because she could visit her mother more often and spend her lunch breaks with her Dad, Hermione, Percy and sometimes Ron and Harry. She needed to feel close to her family because the death of Fred rippled her core and installed in her mind the belief that her family mattered above anything else, including her dreams. Besides, she couldn't afford the expensive university in London and in the first year after the horrors of the war, she couldn't design something new or draw new, beautiful and creative fashion sketches because her inspiration vanished, and her dream of an own fashion label seemed impossible to reach. She couldn't ask her parents for money because they used every Knut they had saved for rebuilding the Burrow. Besides that, as a fashion designer, who felt numb, lifeless and meaningless, she couldn't dress anybody. So, Ginny focused on finishing her education in Hogwarts with top marks, enjoying her fresh romance with her dream-boy, Harry Potter, and securing a job that paid her bills, established her image as a self-independent woman and fulfilled the expectations of the Wizarding World.

But inside Ginny noticed after a year and a half that her fairytale with her Prince Harry was an illusion. Except for the first year, in which they tried to forget their sorrows by throwing themselves in a passionate, love and sex-filled teenage romance and measure up to the expectations of their happily ever after by playing the happy couple, they lost their love for each other in fights, petty arguments, and false assumptions. Perhaps their romance was doomed from the beginning because Harry didn't assimilate his near-death experience, his sacrifices to secure the victory over Voldemort, his lost loved ones, his celebrity status and fame as the Savior and his overwhelming emotions of grief, sorrow, guilt, relief, luck, happiness, and confidence. And as he focused on his redemption by being the best Auror in the history and helping restore the Wizarding World, he forgot to pay attention to the emotions of others, because to be able to go forward he masked his emotions behind a mask of indifference and appearance of being okay, so that he lost his ability to empathize with others. He didn't talk with Ginny about his fears and sorrows because he didn't want to load his demons on her fragile shoulders.

Instead, he bottled everything up, lost his connection to Ginny and, with his stressful and time-consuming training as an Auror added to the mix, didn't know how to act around Ginny. They drifted slowly, but steadily apart, so that they now didn't live like lovers together, but like brother and sister. Ginny burdened her failed, unhappy relationship to Harry, her unsatisfying job, and her unresolved psychological issues like her self-doubt, self-loathing and inferiority complex so much, that she had difficulties to sleep and couldn't look in the mirror anymore. She desperately needed an escape from her sorrows and a way out of her unhappy relationship without hurting Harry too much and disappointing her family. She vowed that she would work on being happy tomorrow. Tonight she would drown her sorrows in alcohol.


	3. Chapter 2 - A new life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you, in which you will meet Sage Prince. I hope that you enjoy reading my story. Your reviews are as always appreciated.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Luxury apartment, London, January 2000

Sage Prince stood in his luxury, furnished in the latest style apartment in front of his floor-to-ceiling windows, sipping slowly on his bourbon whiskey, enjoying his rich, spicy-sweet fruit flavor underlined by a layer of caramel and vanilla and looking with his piercing onyx-black eyes over the busy London traffic. He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the last two years. He felt reborn, like a new person, although his old demons and vices constantly haunted him in his nightmares. He couldn't forget the faces of the dead, injured, tortured, disfigured, traumatized or orphaned witches and wizards or Muggles. His immense survivors-guilt, regret and guilt for his despicable, inhumane deeds as a Death Eater didn't let him close his eyes at night. He was addicted to a light, self-developed and only with his genetics in mind composed sleeping potion, that covered the faces of his victims and the people he couldn't save like a soft blanket and let him function daily. Every time he read about a war orphan without any support, who missed his parents terribly, a widowed mother of tree without the income of her deceased husband, who couldn't pay her bills or a crippled warrior without a job, who tried to numb his pain and despair with alcohol, in the newspapers, he felt an overwhelming guilt for his past actions, his new life in luxury and his booming potions company "The Prince's Perfect Potions". In these moments, he couldn't face a mirror and wished, he had died in the war, too. Because, if these innocent, good people with a pure heart had to suffer, why did an old cruel bastard like him with a dark soul deserve a second chance? Why did he, who tormented or killed Muggles for fun or to gain the favor of the madman Tom Riddle in his youth, betrayed the love of his life, Lily Evans, for being accepted and gaining more power or poisoned many great, promising witches and wizards as well as their children with his deadly, self-invented, cure-, odor- and colorless potions, get a fresh start? He was not only a sadistic, inhumane monster in his youth, he also felt no regrets for reducing a student to tears, mocking a failed potions brewer in front of a whole class or bullying the boy wonder of the wizarding world, Harry Potter, as a teacher.

After many therapy sessions with a Muggle psychologist, he realized that the death of the love of his life, Lily Evans, his only friend and light in a sea full of darkness, which he set off with his disclosure of the prophecy to the Dark Lord, froze his feelings. The pain, the guilt, the regret and the despair about her death were too much for his mind and his heart, so that he collapsed, hid his feelings behind a mask of cold indifference and cruelty thanks to his superb Occlumency abilities and isolated himself from the world. His soul died with her and the only thing he wanted to achieve in his remaining, miserable life was to destroy her murderer and the tormentor of the wizarding world, Lord Voldemort, and to help her son, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, to free the magical world of his reign of darkness, terror, and death. In retrospective, and thanks to many conversations with his psychologist, he realized that Lily Evans was not his one true love, but a bigger than life itself, idealized illusion. Since he met her as a child, connected to through their shared magical abilities and experienced her kindness, Severus was obsessed with his illusory dream of marrying her, fathering her child and growing old with her. He wanted to have it all: a beautiful, friendly and talented witch as a wife, an innocent, well-cared for and beloved baby as a child, a successful, for her world-changing inventions and excellent research department renowned apothecary as a business and a big, beautiful and stylishly furnished villa as a family house. His dreams got more delusional and surreal, the darker his reality became.

Severus faded out that Lily wasn't in love with him, that his fascination for the Dark Arts had destroyed any friendship between them or that he sold his soul to the devil in his blind search for fame, money, and power. As a Death Eater, he was the unfree, dark agent of a madman, who persecuted, tortured or killed every Muggles, Muggle-borns, blood-traitors or squibs, that this madman put on a death-list. He fought against everything, Lily stood for: her Muggle heritage, her magical genius despite being muggle-born, her compassion for other magical creatures and her dream of a united, equal and non-violent magical world. Nowadays, Severus couldn't understand why he joined the Death Eaters and believed that they would fulfill each of his dreams. Sure, Severus was an abused, neglected and love-hungry boy from a failed, violent and loveless marriage between a Muggle and a witch, who had to suffer in silence and alone from the physical and verbal abuse of his alcoholic, magic-hating and sadistic father Tobias and to see his worthless father beating his beautiful, magically gifted pure-blood mother Eileen into submission and abandoning her magical heritage, but other wizards or witches went through similar childhood traumas without becoming an ice-cold killer. Moreover, he grew up in poverty, couldn't afford decent clothes, food or hygiene products and was bullied mercilessly in Hogwarts by the Marauders for being a gloomy, ugly Slytherin or by his Slytherin peers for being an intelligent, magically talented and arrogant half-blood. But not every victim of bullying - and Severus tried to avenge himself through his own acts of bullying-with a poor family background, joined an inhumane, struggling for world domination gang, to feel admired and appreciated. Severus tried to come to terms with his bad decisions in his former life and moved on, even if his vices would chase him every remaining day of his new life.

Severus tried to redeem himself by donating money to a war orphans and widows fund, building a modern orphanage with passionate, friendly and affectionate nurses, or developing many new potions and remedies. Although the wizarding world didn't know that Severus Snape was in truth the mysterious, handsome, wealthy and socially committed magical potions genius Sage Prince. They believed in Severus death as a heroic spy for Dumbledore in Finale Battle. They hailed him as a tragic hero who became a spy and fought for the Light in memory of his unrequited, true love, Lily Evans Potter. Severus despised this romanticized version of himself, because nowadays he demasked his love as an obsession, fought every day with his demons and joined the Light, not only to rescue Lily but also to save his worthless self and find a nearly scot-free way out the Death Eaters. Because he noticed early on in December 1979, about a year after he had taken the Dark Mark, that he wanted to get out because he couldn't fulfill his dreams of fame, power and wealth as a Death Eater. Sure, in the beginning he felt that his potions genius and outstanding magical potential in dueling was acknowledged and supported for the first time, because the Dark Lord sponsored his magical potions Mastery, hired him as his chief potioner and let him teach his colleagues all about his new, self-developed duel spells, but as the first amazement about being powerful enough to torture Muggles or brew deadly, cureless poisons vanished, Severus, recognized with horror that he was an unfree lackey of a madman, who committed crimes in the name of an ideology, the ruling of the purebloods in the wizarding world, he didn't believe in and let himself be consumed by his inner darkness. He desperately searched for a way out, but he knew that his only options were death or flight like a coward. Thus, he distanced himself inwardly from his Death Eater personality, cut out the faces of the innocent who died because of his poisons and curses, and accomplished every mission of his master to his satisfaction, because he didn't want to be killed or tortured into madness by him. He was a wicked, selfish, immoral coward who acted without thinking and only the prospect of losing his obsession, Lily Evans Potter, to death, brought him out of his shell and let him risk everything. Although, he only risked everything in the belief, that Dumbledore wouldn't kill him or throw him into Azkaban because he knew, that he could be valuable to him as a spy amid the Death Eaters and was destined to be turned into a spy. That was his only, albeit risky, mostly scot-free way out of the Death Eaters and his only chance to redeem himself. So, Severus agreed to be a spy for the Light and to fight Voldemort until his death.

After Lily's death, his fight against Voldemort was fueled solely by his thirst to avenge her. And Severus wanted his pitiful existence to end in the Shrieking Shack by being sliced open by Nagini's poisonous, sharp teeth. He suspected that Voldemort would dispose of himself in the end and knew that Nagini was one of his favorite weapons to kill his enemies, so he could have brewed and taken an anti-venom for her poison, carried blood replenishing potions, phoenix tears or healing potions on his person or put himself into a magical, loss of blood stopping coma. But he wanted to die on May 2nd, 1998, and escape his unfortunate, sad life, so he didn't take any precautions. And after he had transferred his memories to Harry, fulfilled his last mission and looked for the last time in Lily's emerald green eyes, he finished his life and welcomed his afterlife. But unfortunately, fate prevented his death by an unusually, magical miracle.

Instead of waking up in the afterlife, Severus awoke in a strange dream-like dimension. A younger, more beautiful and happier version of his mother greeted him with open arms and told him that fate had given him a second chance. He would wake up in an hour near her old parental house, Prince Cottage, in Cornwall and could make a clean start, because he wouldn't wake up as the sour, despised Potions Master, former Death Eater and murderer of Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, but as a twenty-year-old, innocent and unmarked version of himself, Sage Prince. He would be the heir to the immense Prince fortune, the heir to their successful potions company, "The Prince's Perfect Potions", which was now managed by a trust fund, and a renowned magical potions genius with a Mastery in potions, who had been educated in the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft Wizardry in the USA and apprenticed under the renowned Potions Master, Daniel Goldstein. Naturally, his educational records would be verified by magically appearing documents. His identity would be verified by his newly created birth certificate, that revealed his birthday on May 3rd, 1977 in Boston and identified his biological parents as Tiberius Prince, Eileen's elder brother, who died in November 1976 of a brain tumor, and Jasmin Devereaux, his secret American fiancee, who left Britain broken-hearted and pregnant after his death, raised her beloved son with the help of her parents in Boston and tragically died of breast cancer in January 1998, but not before informing him about his heritage.

From there, Sage would seek his roots in Britain, discover his heritage, and claim his legacy by appearing in Prince Cottage, proofing his blood relations to the Princes and inheriting their wealth, company and the real estates as the rightful sole heir after an identity-affirming and property-transferring trip to Gringotts. As Sage Prince, Severus would be able to redeem his acts as a Death Eater by researching new healing potions and remedies and donating a large amount of his wealth. But above all, he might have a new beginning to find true love and happiness. Severus was overwhelmed by these life-changing revelations from his mother, but before he could ask her further questions and still his curiosity as to why he got this wonderful second chance from all the people, he woke up in his de-aged body outside in the fields of Prince Cottage and his new life as Sage Prince began.

Over the past two years, Severus put all his energies, efforts and passions in the research and invention of new healing potions with his competent team of potioneers, herbologists and arithmetics and helped to rebuild the wizarding world. But his new identity as Sage Prince could not wash away his sins and experiences as Severus Snape so that he was still a suspicious, lonely man who appreciated to be left alone. Sure, he worked in his psychological therapy lessons on his issues and tried to be more open to other people, but at his core, he was still an unfortunate, albeit rich and young man, who was haunted by his past and longed for happiness and love. With his new improved looks – his shortened, shiny midnight-black hair; his straight, royal and unbroken nose; his luscious, soft lips; his noble, masculine facial features; his straight, whitened teeth and his well-toned body - his new expensive clothes - mostly black or navy blue suits, shirts and dark jeans-, his new boyish charms and prosperity, he was the dream of many witches, but he only engaged in short-lived affairs and one-night stands, because he was too scared of opening up completely to another person and getting his heart broken. Lately, he had decided to get rid of his insecurities and excuses and start looking for love with an open mind. Today he would try his luck in a new, popular pub in Diagon Alley. Hopefully, Armor's arrow would hit him there.


	4. Chapter 3 - A chance meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update to my story. I hope that you enjoy reading it. Reviews and feedback are as always welcome.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

12 Grimmauld Place, London, January 2000

Ginny Weasley rummaged frantically around in her big, maple closet. She needed something chic to wear that accentuated her beauty, hugged her figure and brought a glimmer into her eyes, but wasn't considered as too posh, too casual or too risky. She wanted to wear something that let her shine without screaming "I desperately wanted to have some fun" and was true to her type so that she would be comfortable wearing it and feeling like a trendy, independent young witch. In her Hogwarts time, Ginny would have transfigured herself a beautiful, classy outfit in record time and without even batting an eyelash, but nowadays, Ginny's despair about her unhappy life blocked her creativity, fueled her insecurities and let her overthink everything. So, deciding what to wear for a casual night of drinking and acting happy in a trendy, magical pub in Diagon Alley was a real challenge for her. After running her own little fashion show in front of her mirror, spreading half her clothes out in her shared bedroom with Harry and swishing her wand likely fifty times, Ginny settled on a curve-hugging, tight dark black jeans, a fitted, low-cut dark lilac top with lacy trumpet sleeves, her favorite tailored, midnight-black suede leather jacket, some comfy ankle boots in suede leather and a rocky looking, decorated with shiny crystals and eddy rivets, black clutch. She had changed the material of her leather jacket and ankle boots into suede with a swish of her wand because she liked its softer, more feminine and adult look. In addition, she had taken in her top, decorated it with lacy trumpet sleeves and added a low neckline thanks to a few easy charms because she wanted to feel sexy and show her assets in a modest form.

Sure, she wouldn't search in the pub for a hot fling with a mysterious stranger because she was in a committed, albeit unhappy, relationship with Harry and didn't want to add "being a cheater" to her long list of regrets, but some little flirting and chatting with a stranger, who would pay her some compliments, listen to her sorrows and be interested in her, plain old Ginny Weasley, wouldn't hurt anybody. It would only give Ginny the feeling of being wanted, appreciated and interesting. A feeling, she didn't experience for a while, because Harry stopped listening to her, asking if she was okay or paying her compliments months ago. They had drifted slowly apart thanks to living two different lives and not assimilating their traumas from the horrors of the Finale Battle together in long talks. Instead, they bottled everything up. Harry worked and studied non-stop to complete his Auror training in record time, with top marks and high praise from his instructors so that he wasn't home very often or had time for long talks with Ginny. Besides that, he handled Ginny with kid gloves since the death of Fred and her tortures in Hogwarts so that he didn't talk openly with her or brought up negative things to not add more to her sorrows or cause her a nervous breakdown. However, his walking around on eggshells and protecting her from distressing news, caused Ginny to feel like a little child, not an equal partner in their relationship and angered her terribly. Hence, she distanced herself from him after a fueled from the wish to forget and be happy whirlwind romance phase, didn't talk about her shattered dreams of being a famous fashion designer or her deep psychological scars from her tortures, her family's grief and her unhappiness and lived her own fake-happy life as a independent, ambitious ministry worker.

Grimmauld Place, that they tastefully furnished with a mix of antique and modern furniture, renovated entirely in bright colors, warm earth tones floors and light aesthetic wallpapers and refurbished with floor-to-ceiling windows, electricity and a lovely, impressive conservatory, didn't feel like her home, although she loved the creativity, freedom, and efficiency of fixing it up to her wishes. It was a real time-consuming, exhausting and research-based adventure because Ginny and Harry wanted to do as much as possible by themselves. Therefore, they researched about renovating spells and charms, the latest fashion of decorating your home and how to transfer electricity into a magical house. Ginny loved the chance to create something unique with the power of her fantasy and magic because it resembled fashion design. However, even her pride and astonishment about the new, optimized Grimmauld Place didn't turn it into her new cozy home. And she knew deep down in herself that it would never be her and Harry's home because their romance was dead. They only were too afraid to admit it to themselves since their family, friends and the whole wizarding world expected them to marry, have kids and live happily ever after and their failed romance would be another failure and shattered dream in their vitas. Thus, they stayed together, acted like the happy couple and put on a brave face. In reality, Ginny only waited anxiously for the moment when everything crashed down. But she didn't know, if she would inflame the matchstick or if Harry would pull the plug.

Ginny tried to clear her head, stop focusing her thoughts on her romance gone bad with Harry and glam herself up. She underlined her big amber-brown eyes with the aid of dark eyeliner, various shades of lilac and silver eyeshadow and dark lash-lengthening mascara, optimized her fair complexion with a porcelain foundation, refreshed her face with rosé rogue and put some shiny, rosé lipstick on her full lips. Ginny didn't apply her makeup by hand but rather used several cosmetic spells and charms so that her face had been momentarily attacked by several seemingly flying brushes, makeup sponges, and eyeshadow applicators. After she had put on her natural makeup, Ginny used several hair charms to transfigure her dark-red shoulder-length straight hair into soft, shiny and voluminous curls. As Ginny looked in the mirror, she felt sexy, care-free and reborn so that a little smile graced her lips. But she finished her look with expensive, silver hoop earrings, that she bought herself from her first wage, a delicate, silver necklace with a star charm, that her parents gifted her to her 17th birthday and a glittery, silver charm bracelet with a horse, golden snitch, and scissors charm, that her brothers gifted her to her passed NEWTs. To ensnare the senses of a handsome young gentleman, Ginny applied her favorite perfume, "Miss Dior" by Dior, that exuded a magnificent fragrance of roses, wild bergamot, tulipwood and rosé pepper.

Happy with her appearance, Ginny looked for the last time into her magical mirror, that paid her the compliment of looking like a fine English rose, put some Galleons into her clutch and visualized her destination, the trendy magical London pub, "The Camel Pub", and apparated in front of it. She took in its built-up of dark-brown walnut wood panels and dark-brown agate stone façade, its in big, brown capitals on a glittery shiny gold plaquette written name "The Camel Pub" and its view artful decorations. With confident, graceful steps Ginny opened the door and walked, while clearing her mind of her issues and encouraging herself to have a good time, straight to the bar. There, she slumped as graceful as possible down on the old, worn-out bar stools, ordered a gin and tonic from a middle-aged, friendly smiling barkeeper with a groomed, dark-brown beard and looked curious over the other patrons. In the far-left corner behind herself sat a cheerful chatting and laughing group of four male friends in their thirty-something, who exchanged funny stories about their home life, school time and working life, direct behind her sat a loved-up, exchanging amorous glances and heated kisses, married couple in their forties, who interrupted their loved-up display to eat their Shepard's Pie and gush with pride about their kids and in the far-right corner behind her sat an old scowling gentleman in his seventies, who drank slowly on his beer and read, complaining to himself about these fake news, the newest edition of "The Evening Prophet". Ginny felt several different emotions by studying the other patrons: 1) remorse, because she had neglected her friends and couldn't imagine herself talking so carefree and happy to Neville, Hermione, Luna, and Demelza; 2) envy, because she couldn't imagine Harry and herself sitting in a pub in twenty years and being so in love, she longed for a happy, true romance like this; 3) fear, because she could imagine herself sitting in a pub all alone and mumbling to herself like an old, lonely and crazed spinster in fifty years due to her isolating herself from the whole world.

Instead of enjoying her time and chatting to a handsome stranger, Ginny felt sadder and more desperate than before and was being hunted by dark thoughts. She downed her drink in one gulp, ordered a new one and tried to forget everything. But she couldn't order her mind to stop thinking so that she was lost in her world of regrets, pain and sorrows. Suddenly, she felt a strong, masculine hand on her left shoulder shaking her. Startled and a little dizzy, Ginny wanted to reprimand the offending hand and turned her head slowly to the side. As she started this rude person with a withering look down, her amber-brown eyes met blazing onyx-black ones. Ginny's harsh accusation died upon her glossy, rosé lips as she perceived the loneliness, unhappiness and despair reflected in his iris. "This stranger has his own demons tormenting him every day", thought Ginny wistfully. Intrigued, she studied him exactly. His looks could only be described as mysterious, dark and really handsome. He was roughly in his mid-twenties and his well-toned, tall body clad in a navy-blue, form-fitted button-down shirt, smart, black slacks as well as shiny black leather boots and his left wrist graced a sparkling, valuable and sterling silver Rolex. His shiny, midnight-black hair ended above his ears, but its subtle undercut let a few short strands fall in front of his eyes, his piercing onyx-black eyes gleamed with intelligence and passion, his strong, masculine facial features like his broad forehead, high cheek-bones, regal nose and square chin gave him the look of a young, handsome prince and his by a dreamy smile exposed and by luscious lips surrounded straight, white teeth made him look like a male model out of a toothpaste advert. Ginny admired him for a few minutes, hoped to Merlin that he didn't notice her staring or couldn't read her thoughts and blushed slightly, before she composed herself enough to say in a pleasant, steady and melodic voice:

"Oh, I'm sorry for staring at you, but you startled me out of deep thoughts with your touch. My name is Ginny Weasley and I'm pleased to meet you." Ginny looked at her handsome stranger questioningly and hold her right hand in greeting out to him. He blinked a few times, shook her hand eagerly and responded in a deep, alluring baritone: "Hello, Ginny. My name is Sage Prince and I'm delighted to meet you. I'm sorry for startling you, but you seemed so sad and lost that I needed to shake you up and get your attention. A beautiful, young and vibrant witch like you shouldn't need to drown her sorrows in alcohol alone. Let's order new drinks together and get to know each other." Ginny was at first surprised by his bluntness, but she picked out his American accent and thought that Americans were known around the world for their openness and directness, so she didn't get offended and encouraged herself to agree to his offer. It was her chance to open to someone without the fear of judgement, disappointing one of her loved ones or demasking her unhappiness. She could be herself, talk about her failed dreams and lost love and get some unbiased advice. As a bonus, she would learn more about a mysterious, handsome man and maybe find someone who could understand her. So, Ginny nipped on her ordered drink, used a "Muffliato", took a deep breath and began to tell her story.


	5. Chapter 4 - Kindred Spirits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still enjoy reading my story. Constructive feedback is as always appreciated so don't be shy about it. Special thanks to the readers that left a Kudos. You made my day.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000

Sage Prince walked briskly to the old-fashioned, traditional English pub "The Camel Pub". He desperately needed a drink to forget about his horrible day in office. His experiments with a new trial for a Werewolf Cure ended in a total disaster. His test subject, an as a three-years-old infected, mid-thirty bookstore clerk named Jeff Miller, who desperately wanted to escape from the stigma, pains, hardships and societal discrimination connected with being infected with lycanthropy and took the risks of testing his experimental, unlicensed and unfinished potions to help finding a cure, couldn't control his mind mid-transformation and destroyed his high-security cell under the influence of his newest version of a possible cure. Only a quickly shouted Stunning and Sleeping Spell, an invention by himself that worked like a strong Muggle narcotic and put its victim immediately into unconsciousness, prevented Jeff from hurting himself or attacking his laboratory staff. Sage didn't know where his experimental cure went wrong yet but this experiment was a huge setback in his trials because the previous potion, an experimental combination of a highly dosed, optimized Wolfsbane Potion, an unlicensed Anti-Change Potion, and a newly-developed Pain Potion, let Jeff stay human in mind, reduced his pains and didn't change his skin into fur, his teeth into sharp weapons and his extremities into claws and paws. Sage and his team hoped that the could emphasize the Anti-Change effect with this new version so that his spine wouldn't crumble, and he needn't crawl on all fours, but alas, the newly added ingredients interacted not as hoped and Jeff didn't stop transforming at all. To find the cause for this failed potion, Sage and his team of potioneers, herbologists and magizoologists needed to analyze the interactions of all ingredients, the quality and preparation of each condiment and the correctness as well as effectiveness of the brewing process. They would be put back at least one week in their trials and needed to redo their time-consuming research process. Sage didn't look forward to all these hardships and he felt like a failure because he installed in Jeff's eyes the hope that they could have developed an effective, affordable and error-free Werewolf Cure until this summer. He didn't want to add another point to his list of bad acts so that he would work twice as hard, re-read every existing potion's book, think outside the box and experiment with various potions ingredients to achieve a new breakthrough. Besides that, his pride as a scientist, researcher, and master potioneer didn't allow him to fail. He wanted to redeem some of his past dark deeds by helping the unwanted, healing the injured and curing the mortally ill so that he would instill hope, happiness, trust, a sense of security and health in people. He wanted to be the polar opposite of his former self: instead of instilling fear, despair, pain, and sorrow in people, he wanted to put a smile upon their lips, a glimmer in their eyes and hope in their hearts.

Clearing his head with the help of Occlumency, focusing on his intent to live his life to the fullest and start dating, Sage Prince breathed deeply and stepped with long, sure steps into the pub. He wanted to radiate an alluring aura of mystery, self-confidence, and openness so that he stretched his back, smiled friendly in the direction of the bar and took a seat on the worn-out barstools. Ordering a whiskey bourbon, smoothing out his dark-blue button-down shirt with his right hand and running his left fingers through his cut, coal-black hair, Sage noticed a pretty, young redhead downing a gin and tonic in one gulp and looking utterly exhausted from the corners of his eyes. Sage couldn't deny that he was drawn to red-haired women. Their fair complexion littered with cute looking freckles, their fiery colored hair that changed its shades due to the ankle of sunrays from Bordeaux red to strawberry blond or chestnut brown and bright blue, green or brown attracted him. Besides that, many redheads he knew personally had a fiery temper, a no-nonsense attitude and fought passionately for their ideals. Sage admired this character traits in any woman and looked for them in his potential girlfriend.

Although Lily Evans Potter possessed these traits, his taste in women hadn't anything to do with her or his obsession with her in his former life. Sure, Lily had been passionate, headstrong, protective of her loved ones and brave, but she was also deeply affected by the opinions of her peers and the expectations of society. She wasn't a free spirit who fulfilled her dreams, did things her way and gave a damn about the judgment, rules or conventions of society. Quite the reverse! She was a kind-hearted, likable young woman who married her high school sweetheart, lived a financial comfortable live by his side without pursuing her own career and sacrificed herself out of love for her son Harry. By modern standards, she wouldn't be considered as an independent witch with her own ambitions, career, and money. Sure, Sage also admired women who stayed at home, raised and educated their children to be responsible, kind, tolerant and active members of the magical society and knew that having a big family was a dream come true for many people. But he knew that Lily Evans had different dreams in her youth that she abandoned to comply with the ideal image of a good wife and mother. She dreamed of achieving a Mastery in Potions or Charms: creating her own potions, improving existing charms or teaching kids. And taking the fate of his mother into consideration, who couldn't escape her hell of an abusive marriage due to her lack of education, money, and contact to the wizarding world, Sage would encourage any future wife of his to live her dreams and be happy.

Shaking off his heavy thoughts, Sage studied the redhead, who hanged her head, arched her back, sipped her gin and tonic and seemed near to tears, closely. She was of average height, had a slim, but curved figure and Bordeaux red, shoulder-length hair, which was styled in soft, glamorous curls. She was clad in a form-fitted purple top, some black skinny jeans, an edgy black waisted suede leather jacket and black suede leather ankle boots. She wore a natural makeup and shiny silver jewelry. Sage loved her casual, but sexy look and wanted to get to know her. The contrast between her edgy look and sad aura intrigued him and he desperately wanted to see her face. So, he gave himself a little pep talk in his thoughts, stood up and approached her. To get her attention, he lightly shook her left shoulder. Sage scolded himself for this action because she flinched, startled lightly and turned her head abruptly in his direction to undoubtedly reprimand him for his idiotic and offensive behavior. "Wow, Sage. You can even destroy a chance to get to know a lovely long witch without talking to her. Really expressive", mocked him a mean voice in his head. When her amber brown eyes met his onyx black ones, Sage's eyes widened in recognition. The sad red-haired young woman who downed her gin and tonic in one gulp and looked utterly unhappy was Ginny Weasley. As Sage continued to stare shocked in her dull fawn eyes, he felt like meeting a kindred spirit. Sage knew that the old saying of the eyes being the windows to one's soul was true. Every time he needed to face Voldemort he applied his strong Occlumency walls because he knew that one look in his un-occluded eyes would betray his treachery, revulsion, and horror. So, Sage was very surprised to see the longing for love and happiness, battle with the ghosts from the past and sadness as well as devastation about one's current life that he felt, reflected in her eyes.

He couldn't believe that the feisty, defiant and self-confident witch he had taught for six years as a Potions Professor in his former life, lost the spark in her eyes and the vibrancy in her aura. Sure, he was aware that her brother Fred died in the Finale Battle and that she had to endure the tortures of the sadistic Carrow twins under his short, violent and horrific eight months as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, two facts that hunted him in his dreams and caused him a hole mixture of feelings like guilt, grief, self-loathing and shame, because he couldn't protect his students and needed to watch them being tortured, injured or killed due to his role as a double agent, but he never imagined her being quite so visibly unhappy. From his personal battles the after-effects of torture, he knew that they left deep physical and psychological injuries, and while the former slowly healed with time, but often left visible, disfiguring scars, the later could often only be processed with professional therapy, long, open and undiscriminating conversations with family and friends and the love, support, trust and patience of one's loved ones. In the case of Ginny Weasley, there seemed to be all a victim of traumatic events could hope for: loving, supportive parents, who would die for their children and only wanted their happiness; a bunch of over-protective, loving elder brothers, who could let their sister sympathetic ears and be there for her; a group of loyal, trustworthy friends, who could cheer her up with a joke and bust her self-confidence and a loving, faithful boyfriend, the Savior of the wizarding world, Harry Potter himself, who could make her smile and dry her tears. But something must have gone horribly wrong, because for Ginny this strong, loving support network obviously didn't work because she seemed to be lost, unhappy and depressed.

Sage only could guess what made her so unhappy that she needed to drown her sorrows in alcohol but he knew that she needed a sympathetic ear that could listen to her story without judging her. And as he didn't want to add another case of neglected support to his list of regret and had sworn to himself that he would use his second chance to help other people if possible and make their lives happier, he decided to act as this patient, unbiased and advising resonance body. Besides that, Sage was curious to hear her story and fascinated by her beauty. Sure, she was one of his former students, twenty-one year his junior and would likely run screaming away, if she knew, that she was about to share a drink with the "Bat of the Dungeons", but these valid points to stay away from her, didn't discourage Sage. He wanted desperately to see the spark return into her amber brown eyes and see her smile whole-heartedly, so that he would have a heart-to-heart talk with her because he needed someone to talk to, too.

Before he could ponder how to best approach her, a slight blush graced her face, he could hear her pleasant, steady and melodic voice talking to him and see her right hand held out to him in greeting.

"Oh, I'm sorry for staring at you, but you startled me out of deep thoughts with your touch. My name is Ginny Weasley and I'm pleased to meet you."

Sage blinked, arranged a response in his mind, shook her soft, pale and delicate feminine hand eagerly and responded in his deep, composed baritone while thinking not to mess this up and making her a casual offer.

"Hello, Ginny. My name is Sage Prince and I'm delighted to meet you. I'm sorry for startling you, but you seemed so sad and lost that I needed to shake you up and get your attention. A beautiful, young and vibrant witch like you shouldn't need to drown her sorrows in alcohol alone. Let's order new drinks together and get to know each other."

Sage hoped, that his bluntness and compliments would move Ginny into accepting his drinks and talking to him because she really needed to open to someone about her feelings. He anxiously awaited her reaction and trusted that his new handsome look, mysterious aura, sympathetic charisma and empathetic nature would spark her interest and curiosity. As Ginny looked him deep in his coal-black eyes, offered him the bar stool on her left, took a sip of her gin and tonic, uttered a "Muffliato" and turned her head in his direction, he knew that she would talk to him. So, he eagerly slumped down on the bar stool and listened with rapt attention to her voice.


	6. Chapter 5 - A heart-to-heart talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you. I hope that you enjoy reading it and still like my story. I noticed a decline in views and if you have any advice how I should improve my story, please leave me a PM or a review. Only your feedback can help me to develop further. Thanks for your support.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000

Ginny encouraged herself in thoughts to open up to the mysterious stranger Sage Prince. She downed her gin and tonic in one gulp because deep down she knew that she was mental for unloading her heart to some stranger she felt a strange connection to. "Here comes nothing", thought Ginny wistfully, tried to collect her buzzing around at full speed thoughts and formulate a beginning to her story. But before she dared to utter one word about her deeply guarded shattered dreams, current unhappiness, and secret dreams, she looked Sage in his onyx-black eyes, noticed his encouraging nod and blurted out a fair warning. She wanted him to give a way out of their talk.

"Look, I know that you probably didn't plan to waste your free time and lovely night in a Pub to listen to some sad story of a desperate female stranger. I would understand it if you decided to leave now before I unload my sorrows. So, if you want to go, just go. But if you decide to stay and listen to my story, I would appreciate it, if you just listened without uttering your opinion or judging me about my actions at first. Just hear me out, because I think that would make things a lot easier for me. I know that you probably think I'm crazy to trust you and that you are currently stressed out about my ramblings, but for some reason, I know that you can understand me, that we are kindred spirits. So, please loan your sympathetic ear to me and I will return your favor and be your resonance board. It's up to you, Sage. What are you going to do?", asked Ginny shrugging her shoulders and biting her bottom lip nervously.

Her silver hoop earrings were bouncing through the air, her wild red curls flying around her face and her forehead peppered with deep frowns. She looked so utterly alone, unhappy and desperate, that Sage couldn't stop himself from putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He wanted to wash her sorrows away and help her, despite his fears of being exposed as a person with a fake identity or his inexperience in comforting any woman. He knew that it probably wasn't fair to dish some fake story out to Ginny, if she opened up her heart to him, so he vowed to himself to stay as near to the truth as possible. But Ginny couldn't know that Sage Prince was the de-aged and wealthy version of her former nightmarish Potions master because she would go on the run before she told him anything from her story or listened to his explanations. And the most important issue right now was that she didn't bottle everything up in herself and talked to someone. So, Sage decided to carry on his charade, bury the memories of his former identity under some thick layers of Occlumency walls and see Ginny as the young, unhappy witch she was now without any influence of his past impressions, trashy gossip stories or blind-folded prejudices. He pretended to be Sage Prince: a handsome, mysterious and charming American in his mid-twenties, who didn't suffer under the tyranny of Lord Voldemort, didn't know everything about the Golden Trio and his friends and focused on his inventions as a Potioneer and met this young, beautiful woman for the first time this evening. Sage thanked Merlin that his self-developed accent transfer spell worked because his charmed American accent was so different from Severus Snape's British accent and transformed his voice fundamentally, that Ginny wouldn't stumble upon any similarities. So, Sage answered Ginny in a kind, reassuring voice and tried to transfer his sincerity with his eyes.

"Ginny, I really appreciate your bluntness and decision to open up to me. I absolutely don't think that you are mental or your words annoying, because I know how difficult it is to share your deepest secrets, thoughts, and dreams with someone. I also feel a strange connection to you and I can assure you that you can trust me with not telling a soul about your confessions or judging you unfairly for your decisions. My whole life, I bottled everything up in me, suffered from unjust prejudices against me and lived an isolated, lonely and unhappy life out of fear of getting hurt and/or rejected, so I can relate to your feelings, thoughts, and insecurities. I could assimilate some of my issues due to therapy sessions with a Muggle psychologist, but I'm certain that your sympathetic ear and perception will help me to see some things differently and forgive myself for a few deeds because you are a kindred spirit. And you didn't ruin my evening plans. I came to this pub with the intention of drowning my frustrations about a bad day in office in alcohol, so our talk will do my liver some favors and let me enjoy the company of a beautiful, brave woman. So please start telling your story, I promise you to not interrupt, judge or share my opinion unless you want to hear it."

Totally overwhelmed by his kind words, the sincerity in his eyes and the calmness of his voice, Ginny started her story in a constant, deliberating stream of thoughts and feelings.

"Sage, you can't fathom how much this means to me. But now I will stop to beat around the bush and tell you my story. Let me re-introduce myself to you. I'm Ginny Weasley, a nine-teen-years-old red-haired woman, who doesn't love her boyfriend anymore, hates her job as a secretary in the Ministry and is haunted by the demons of the Second Wizardry War. One year ago, I thought myself to be utterly happy with the man of my dreams, Harry, whom I had a crush on since my first year in Hogwarts, and content with my own career in the Ministry. Sure, in my youth I dreamed about studying fashion design and business economics at the University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London as well as starting up my own fashion label after my degree, but the war shattered my dreams and hopes. I don't know how much heard about the Voldemort's reign of terror, destruction, and violence as well as our victory over it in America, but let me tell you that it left deep physical and psychological scars on every one of my family or friends. We lost so many loved ones, witnessed so many horrific deeds of torture, homicide, and mutilation and needed to commit acts of violence ourselves, that every one of us is deeply traumatized and affected until now.

I had a huge, loving, financially burdened family of eight, six elder brothers including one set of twins, a fiery, overprotective and one hell of a chef, mum and a loving, realistic and operating day and night dad, but the sacrifices for the victory of the Light left us utterly devastated. My brother Fred, one of the twins, died in the Finale Battle by the hand of a Death Eater, my eldest brother Bill got mutilated by a Werewolf and now shares some Werewolf mannerisms, my brother Percy distanced himself from us to climb up the greasy pole in the Ministry up, my youngest brother Ron identified, searched and destroyed the Horcruxes of Voldemort with his two best friends for a year and my mum Molly murdered the evil, loyal and insane Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange to protect myself. The grief about the death of Fred shook our family to the core, so that my mum lives in a current fear of losing another of her children, tries to smother us with love and collapsed psychologically some months after the Final Battle. She has been treated with psychological therapy, psychotropic drugs in the form of newly, based on her genetics, developed potions and pills and a knitting therapy ever since and our family walks on eggshells around her. Everyone is afraid to hurt her feelings, reduce her to tears or disappoint her with a wrong word, look, mannerism or memory. I know that this behavior won't help her heal, but I myself struggle too much with my own demons to be a great support system to her.

I went to school for my sixth year in Hogwarts at the time when the war escalated and tried to form a resistance consisting of the remains of the Defense organization "Dumbledore's Army" against the violent, dark and inhumane rule of the Death Eaters over Hogwarts with the help of my friends. The then Headmaster, the now deceased spy for the Light in the midst of the Death Eaters, Severus Snape, needed to retain Voldemort's trust and appear as his dark, evil and sadistic right-hand man, so that he allowed the sadistic, evil and dumb Death Eater Twins, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, to teach in Hogwarts, thus only watched as they terrorized, tortured and manhandled his students. I myself was tortured for a considerable time with the Cruciatus Curse, whose immense pain haunts me until today in my dreams and often times lets me only sleep with a very addictive Sleeping Potion, and made out to be the "undesirable number one" as one of the ringleaders of the DA, which resulted in a constant fear of being stalked or getting punished. Until today I sometimes battle with anxious feelings of being followed or attacked behind a corner. I know that I probably have some PTSD issues and should search professional help, I actually had some therapy sessions with a magical psychologist, but I felt too ashamed to open up honestly about my issues so that I didn't process them.

Regardless, one of my greatest scars of the war is my fear of fulfilling my dreams and living my life. This is also one of my greatest regrets and the biggest source of my unhappiness beside my broken relationship with Harry. I know that this confession must sound contradictory to you. After facing unspeakable horrors, losing loved one and nearly dying oneself, most people decide to live their life to the fullest, only caring about being happy and living their dreams, because you never know when your life could be over, but my first thoughts after the end of the war were to settle for the secure road and focus on your romance with the love of your life, the Savior of the Wizarding World himself, Harry Potter. The most important thing in my life was to protect my family, enjoy my romance with Harry and stay close to my loved one. I didn't want to take a huge risk by running into high debts to study fashion design and business economics without the guarantee to becoming a successful fashion designer. I didn't want to burden my romance with Harry, that was at that time difficult enough due to his status as the Savior, his helper syndrome, his undiscussed near-death experience as well as our unprocessed demons of the war like survivor's guilt, PTSD, and grief, with an added bonus of studying 24/7, distancing myself and working on an own, independent career. Although what I forget to realize was that by not talking about our issues and treating the other with kid gloves, we never established a common ground, trust and a feeling of security, that was essential for a strong, loving relationship after the first rays of infatuations vanished.

So, I began to work as a secretary to a Ministry official right after my finished Hogwarts degree. A job, that my dad helped me to obtain, made my parents proud and gave me the appearance of being an independent, modern witch with her own career without screaming scholar, artist or athlete. The Wizarding World expected from me to support Harry in his training as an Auror, marry him in the future and start a family with him so that I didn't need to earn my own money for long. Besides, I already lived with him in Grimmauld Place, a dark house he inherited from his deceased godfather Sirius Black, that we renovated basically in regard to fit our tastes, styles, and needs, so that we could have our own home, and us living together was as good as an engagement in the eyes of the society as well as our family and friends. But although I designed Grimmauld Place after my wishes, something the resembled my beloved fashion design of my youth, it never felt like a home to me.

I admitted to myself around Christmas that my formerly blissfully happy romance with Harry was broken beyond repair and my job didn't fulfill me. But I didn't break it off with Harry because I cringe thinking about the tears in the eyes of my mum, the disappointment in the eyes of my dad, the anger in the eyes of my brother Ron and the trashy headlines of the "Daily Prophet". I know that neither Harry nor I are happy in our relationship, because we don't miss each other enough to set each other silly love messages, we don't put all of our efforts in seeing as much of each other as possible, we don't talk openly about our issues and feelings and we certainly don't long to be intimate with each other. Our romance frizzled out and a love like the strong bond between siblings replaced it, but neither of us is brave enough to pull the plug in our romance because it would add a new failed dream or fairytale gone bad to my list. And this list of missed chances is already long enough because I loathe myself for not being brave enough to study fashion design and business economics. Sure, right after the war my creativity and muse were utterly destroyed, and I couldn't design one little piece of clothing so that my chances of passing university with flying colors were really slim. But a half year ago, my muse returned, and I started to transfigure my shirts into fashionable tops or design my own dresses again. I really wish I could turn the time back and start studying, even if I needed to get into debts and my success wasn't guaranteed. However, my life experience showed me that nothing ever is guaranteed, so that I would take the risky road now. I only long to be happy and do the things that I like. So, mysterious stranger Sage, do have any advice how I could achieve that?"

Ginny ended her story and looked expectant, lost and desperate with her amber-brown eyes in Sage's onyx-black ones.


	7. Chapter 6 - Live your dreams!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another short update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like my story and would really appreciate some reviews.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Vani12

The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000

Sage Prince listened with rapt attention to Ginny's story, occasionally sipping his own Bourbon whiskey and smoothing out his midnight-black hair. He hated it when his natural curls wanted to make an appearance and dishevel his neat cut, so he tried to stop it with his hands. He tried to control his facial expressions to not intimidate or unsettle Ginny in her tale thanks to his Occlumency because he promised her not to judge her unfairly. Besides that, he knew how difficult it was to open up to someone, so he wasn't surprised that Ginny lost their eye contact during her tale, looked down into her lap and rather talked to herself than him. But that was to be expected because she really seemed to be ashamed of her depression, unhappy life, shattered dreams and failed romance and pouring out her heart to a stranger was a high risk as well as a huge progress. So, Sage schooled his mixed emotions like anger, disbelieve, compassion and sadness behind his mental walls, although he knew, that he failed miserably to conceal his anger about Potters behavior. He couldn't believe that the Savior of the Wizarding World could be so dumb and ignorant to not notice his girlfriend's sorrows. Sure, he knew that Potter was a self-absorbed, immature prat with a martyr complex but he would have never guessed that he could leave his girlfriend to battle alone with her demons. He seemed too empathetic to disregard her sorrows or unhappiness, and Sage could only guess, that Potter was too occupied with saving the world, being an excellent Auror and processing his fame, so that he didn't pay attention to his girlfriend's emotions. Sage couldn't fathom what an idiot Potter was for ruining his chance for happiness with the loyal, feisty, beautiful and magical talented witch Ginny Weasley. But he could fathom, that Potter was afraid of calling it quits with Ginny and facing the backlash of the press, his groupies, and his adopted family, the Weasleys because he would have to admit his failure and bury his dream of a fairytale happily ever after. And Potter wasn't the guy who would face his issues head-on and live with them.

Sage was really upset, that Ginny didn't fulfill her dream of studying fashion design and business economics due to her financial woes, wish to stay close to her family and fear of failure because if he learned one thing in his life, it was to start dreaming big and living your dreams. He was able to relate to her financial woes because he too grew up in poverty so that his family didn't have enough money to buy him decent clothes, expensive hygiene products or new books. He was familiar with a life consisting of hand-me-downs, missed meals, non-existent presents, and taunts of one's wealthier classmates, although he knew that Ginny didn't grow up in the same impoverished, violent, toxic and uneducated working-class environment he did. Actually, far away from it, then despite their financial worries, the Weasleys showered their children with love, protection as well as encouragement and fulfilled them as many wishes as possible. Instead of growing up in an old, impoverished and broken industrial Muggle town like Cokeworth being labeled a freak, mistake, and failure of one alcoholic, physically abusing bastard of a Muggle, pitied for his looks, half-blood status, and magical powers by one depressed, subdued, addicted to pills, and robbed of her magical heritage uncaring mother or despised by his wealthy, pure-blooded Slytherin housemates for being a poor, arrogant and magical talented half-blood or by the arrogant, narcissistic and cowardly Marauders for being an ugly, socially ackward and fascinated with the Dark Arts evil Slytherin, Ginny grew up in a lovely, chaotic, lively and magical home, the Burrow, being labeled the cherished, long-awaited and beautiful baby girl by her loving parents, protected and guided by her rowdy, mischievous as well as good-hearted bunch of six elder brothers and accepted as well as respected for her kindness, sense of justice, creativity, empathy as well as intelligence and superb Quidditch skills by her close friends and Hogwarts staffers.

Granted, Sage could imagine that being the only female child in a huge, pure-blooded, albeit defamed as poor blood-traitors, family had its downsides like overprotective brothers, being barred from the pure-blood society or handling a huge set of expectations and pressure but Sage could only envy Ginny for her loving, loyal and close family network and support system. With bile rising up his throat, he remembered his horrible, lonesome and dark childhood, youth and adulthood without any hope, love or happiness besides his obsession with Lily Evans. He blindly choose his dark path to become a Death Eater, surrender to his inner darkness and commit evil crimes, because the Death Eaters made him feel powerful, important, appreciated, useful as well as accepted and provided him the stage to exact revenge on all the people that treated him unfairly, violent and like a lost cause in his past and gave him the opportunity to fulfill his dreams of achieving a Potions mastery and creating his own spells and potions. With horror and guilt, he recalled his violent, merciless and inhumane acts against mankind, his paid by the dirty money of Tom Riddle apprenticeship and his unfree, toxic and self-loathing life as his right-hand man and poisoner whose venoms, poisons and toxins killed, injured, tortured, mutilated or bewitched many innocent, life-loving and good wizard and witches as well as Muggles. Sage felt a new rush of guilt as Ginny confessed being traumatized and hurt by the tortures of the evil, sadistic Carrow twins under his reign of terror in Hogwarts. Sure, he suspected and deep down admitted to himself that Ginny and the other defiant ringleaders of Dumbledore's Army were subjected to the Crusiatus Curse, physical punishments, and other inhumane curses by the wands and hands of the Carrows during his term as the Headmaster of Hogwarts and his guilt haunted him in his dreams so that he got addicted to his self-developed, adapted to his genetics Sleeping Potion but listening to her trauma affected him nonetheless deeply. He loathed himself for not protecting his students, saving their lives and being granted a second chance, a fresh start, due to the whims of fate while they stayed dead, injured or traumatized. But Sage vowed to himself to open up to Ginny and try to help her. So as she asked, after thirty minutes of nervously, with dull eyes and a flat voice storytelling and a desperate look in her amber-brown, hopeless eyes for his advice, Sage decided to try showing her a path to regain her happiness in life and live her dreams. After I last gulp out of his whiskey glass, Sage looked her encouraging in her eyes and said in his calm, smooth layered with an American accent voice.

"Ginny, I really am blown away by your honesty, sincerity, and openness because I know how difficult and personal it is to open up about one's personal issues, especially psychological, thanks to the stigma that still sticks to mental diseases and issues in the Wizarding world. I know that that the magical society made progress in the last decade due to exchanges, communication, and interaction with the Muggle world, so that diseases like depression, PTSD or anxiety are now treated with new, innovative potions, charms, and methods, but it still takes a lot of courage and conscious effort to talk about one's unhappiness and sorrows, because it's never easy to admit being unhappy. In my experience, many people act happy, cheerful and content in company despite being utterly unhappy and depressed in reality only to fulfill the expectations of their friends and family as well as society in general. I sometimes think, that especially the magical society is badly mistaken to think that our magical powers would guarantee us a carefree and happy life easily because we can transfigure ourselves, cure our maladies or predict our future with a swish of our wands, a potion from our cauldron or the tea leaves in our cups. In my opinion, these seemingly unlimited magical abilities and possibilities easily corrupt our minds and confuse our emotions as well as morals.

In my youth, I made many mistakes because I wanted to gain power, prove my enemies wrong and take revenge on my enemies and basically the whole world for treating me poorly, so that I joined a group of dark wizards in America. I was so blinded by my ambition and the wish to impress a girl I was obsessed with, that I lost my way, committed awful crimes and surrendered myself to the darkness. Only thanks to the mercy and help of my mentor, my own bad conscience, and the realization that I hated myself as the dark wizard that I was and couldn't continue to live such a lonesome, violent and pathetic life, I turned my former comrades-in-arms in to MACUSA, worked as a spy and fought to destroy their reign of terror and violence. After my name had been cleared due to my efforts for MACUSA, I vowed to myself to start living my dreams without seeking the approvement of the magical society or playing by their rules. Tragically, at roughly the same time, my mum Jasmin, who raised me alone with love and security in Boston until she married my good-for-nothing stepdad Toby, died of breast cancer and I was utterly devastated but before she passed away, she disclosed the secrets of my heritage. She met my real dad, Tiberius Prince, in 1976 on a study trip to Great-Britain, fell in love at first sight and agreed to marry him after a short courting phase. But they needed to keep their relationship hidden because my mum was only a Half-Blood from a middle-class family in Boston and the parents of my dad, Julius and Octavia Prince, expected him, as the sole heir to the pure-blooded, esteemed and wealthy Prince potions dynasty, to marry a daughter of an old, powerful and pure-blooded family. So they lived blissfully happy, enjoying their new romance and planning their marriage, a tragedy occurred. My dad died of a burst aneurysm caused by brain cancer and my mum left Britain utterly devastated and heart-broken, but noticed back in Boston that she carried a child. So throughout her pregnancy and the first years of my life, her parents supported her and I enjoyed a happy early childhood. Although my mum changed drastically thanks to her marriage to the bastard Toby, who physically and emotionally abused her and myself, blocked her magical powers and took her will to life, she informed herself about my paternal heritage and stumbled upon the fact, that I, as the sole magical and rightful heir to the Princes, would inherit everything after proving my kinship to the Princes and claiming my inheritance.

Since I longed to learn more about my British roots, wanted to have a fresh start after the death of my mum as well as my dark past and completed my Potions mastery in Boston at the time, I decided to move to Britain, claim my heritage and live my dream of creating new, revolutionary and affordable healing potions and cures for many diseases, maladies and disabilities. I became the CEO of "The Prince's Perfect Potions" company, renovated my paternal property Prince Cottage and bought myself an apartment in London near my factory. In addition, I donate a vast amount of my money to social organizations like the "War Orphans and Widows Funds" or the "Magical Organisation of Psychological Diseases" every year, to redeem my past dark actions. I dream of finding a cure for lycanthropy or cancer in cooperation with my expert teams of superb herbologists, potioneers, scientists and arithmetics and although I'm grateful for my second chance in life thanks to my inheritance and the guidance of my mentor, the demons of my past hunt me daily and I have sometimes difficulties to face the mirror or pleasantly chat with other people. But I forget my sorrows when I research old potions, experiment with new ideas or complete a successful potions trial in my lab. In these rare moments, I'm actually happy because I do the things that I like. Even though I still long for happiness and love in my private life, I can confidentially say that I never enjoyed my working life as much as today.

So, Ginny Weasley, my advise to you would be the following: live your dreams. Quit your job in the Ministry, apply for the fashion design and business economics courses at the University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London, break it off with your boyfriend, continue to design your own fashion in your free-time and focus on being happy and mental stable again. Don't try to meet the insane expectations of the Wizarding world or your family. I can guarantee you that your family likely only wants to see you happy, smiling all day and enjoying your life, so that your choice in the man of your dreams or your profession isn't important to them as long as you are happy. So, they will survive your break-up, fresh start as a student and your striving for independence and support you eventually. Just fulfill your dreams because only that can help your soul to find peace and live happily. If you can only change one thing at a time, do it. But rest assured, that I will help you in your new ways to my best abilities. I can be your shoulder to cry on, your sympathetic ear to unload yourself to, your understanding support system and your scholarship financier because we are kindred spirits and I want to see your beautiful amber-brown eyes to sparkle, your luscious lips to smile and your kind heart to race out of happiness and joy again. It's up to you. What will you choose, Ginny Weasley?"

Sage Prince ended his long monologue with a dry throat, fluttering heart and an imploring gaze in the direction of Ginny Weasley. Ginny was utterly perplexed by this turn of events and she needed some minutes to sort out her buzzing head and flying emotions. She was moved by Sage's story and intrigued by his advice, but she desperately needed time to think and process these heart-to-heart talk, so that she sipped her gin and tonic and let her gaze wander through the pub. How should she react to his advice?


	8. Chapter 7 - Start dreaming big!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you to enjoy. I hope you still like reading my stories.
> 
> Have a nice weekend,  
> charmed92

The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000

Ginny really was flabbergasted by Sage's offer, his moving life story and the connection she instantly felt to him. Sure, some of these emotions stemmed from his attractivity, his desire to flirt with her and pay her some really missed attention and his willingness to listen to her sorrows without rolling his eyes, sneering his face or interrupting her with negative comments. After pouring her heart out to Sage, Ginny felt strangely light-headed, free as a bird and relieved of a heavy burden. Sure, she knew that this heart-to-heart talk didn't change anything regarding the issues of her failed romance, unfulfilling job, and PTSD but it really helped her to reflect upon her life, question her past choices and future options and admitting some hurtful truth to herself. She now was certain, that she couldn't go on with her life like this and needed to change it drastically unless she wanted to end as a lonely, bitter and desperate housewife in a failed marriage. And Sage's story about his fresh start in life by living his dream of being a research-crazy, cure-developing and life-saving potioneers finally opened he eyes for the amazing possibilities she still had in life. If Sage could give up his fascination with the Dark Arts, leave his criminal group of dark wizards, help MACUSA as a spy to bring them to justice and establish himself as the CEO of a highly-praised potions company to work on improving healing potions, inventing cures for deadly diseases or developing remedies for pain relief, she could certainly quit her job, register at the London University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in fashion design and business economics and sort her love life out. Besides evoking Ginny's empathy for his abusive home life as well as his bullying in school, her anger for joining a group of dark wizards as well as committing evil acts in his past and her admiration for turning on them as well as working as a spy to bring them down, Sage's story gave Ginny hope and courage to start living her dreams. But Ginny knew that she didn't have the courage to change her life at once by 180 degrees, so she would make one step at a time.

Ginny gathered her thoughts, looked with conviction and a new light in her amber eyes into Sage's obsidian ones and answered him.

"Sage, I'm really moved by your story and appreciate your honesty, trust, and belief in me. Your talk about starting anew really opened my eyes and gave me new hope to fulfill my dreams. You' re right, I absolutely need to stop wallowing in self-pity, drowning my sorrows in alcohol and going on with my life without changes. And I'm really moved by your offer to be a supportive friend and sympathetic ear, but I'm not ready to change my life by 180 degrees. Although your words about my family stroke a chord in my mind, because I know that they only want to see me happy and content in life from the bottoms of their hearts, I can't confront them with my job change, break-up, and psychological issues at the same time. They will be extremely upset and disappointed about my break-up with Harry because he is like a son to them and they always dreamed of my fairytale ending with him. My mum even hinted about marriage and children in the future, so that I have decided, to withhold my news about our broken relationship until later. I'm not strong enough to face all the tears, screams and reproaches yet, so I will maintain this shame of a romance. Besides that, Harry is so focused on his Auror training and chasing dark wizards, that I don't have to face him very often. Usually, we only communicate through a few owls and our last outing in public as a couple was months ago so that I don't have to play the affectionate girlfriend. If I'm lucky, Harry will pull the plug on our relationship in the meantime.

But I have decided to quit my job at the end of January, apply for fashion design and business economics courses at the London University and start spending my transition time between January and April with researching the newest design spells, charms, and techniques, updating my atelier with the newest stylish materials, colors and patterns, drawing fashion sketches and designing my own fashion 24/7 and looking for a part-time job or internship in a fashion boutique. I really appreciate your offer to fund my scholarship but I can't accept this. It wouldn't be right. So, Sage, what do you say? Are you happy with my reaction?", Ginny asked cheekily.

Sage only shrugged his shoulders, sipped his Bourbon and replied in a monotone voice. "Ginny, it isn't important if I'm happy and you don't owe me an explanation for your actions, although I appreciate your thought process and support your decision wholeheartedly because just by living your dreams, you can be happy again. I can understand, that you want to change your life step by step and not by 180 degrees because you would have to deal with too much drama otherwise but in my experience, it also is important, to be honest with other people and not lead them on, so I would really encourage you to speak with your boyfriend and confess, that you aren't in love with him, in the near future. It doesn't make any sense to put the unpreventable off because it only causes more hurt feelings, wasted time and living in despair.

And in my books, you can accept my offer to fund your scholarship because you would have to go into debt otherwise and between friends money lending is a normal thing so you don't have to feel ashamed of it. I inherited more than enough money so that your tuition fees don't make a hole in my bank accounts. Besides that, if you really are too honorable or feel uncomfortable for taking my inherited money, I could offer you a new deal. I will pay your tuition fees and any bills, that are connected to your studies, in exchange for your work as a designer. My employees are constantly complaining about their plain, unpractical and ugly working clothes so that they get on my nerves and nag about it twice weekly. So, I would really appreciate it, if you could design some new working clothes for my employees, in fact, I thought about a whole new, revolutionary and fashionable line including lab coats, t-shirts, slacks, skirts, cardigans, and jackets as well as shoes and some dressing robes for social gatherings or working trips. You could lace every clothing item with some magical protection spells as "Anti-Inflammable","Waterproof", "Anti-Curse" or "Potions-Repelling" and imprint my company logo. We would discuss the working clothesline in detail at another time after you had the time to draw some sketches and familiarize yourself with my company as well as the design of working clothes. I know that it doesn't sound like a glamorous or headlines making job but you could design some new clothes and let your creativity run free. So, Ginny, what do you say to my offer?", inquired Sage in a calm, all business-like tone.

Ginny couldn't believe her luck. Here was a handsome, mysterious stranger offering her to design her own fashion line and paying her study fees, who sympathized with her, listened to her sorrows and gave her some hope to change her life. She couldn't believe want an awesome chance he granted her and how much he obviously believed in her talent as fashion designer without actually seeing anything of her designs. Sure, she knew that he wanted to see her smile and be happy again but to engage her as the new fashion designer of his working clothes really took his efforts to see to her happiness to a new level. As the CEO of the potions company in Great-Britain, that astonished the magical society with their ground-breaking research and inventions of new, based on genetics healing potions and cures, received glorifying reviews in specialist publications and was showered with praise, gratitude, and awards, Sage had a reputation to defend, responsibility to take and authority to lose, if anything didn't work according to plan. So, if Ginny messed the working clothesline up, it would reflect negatively on him. Therefore, he took a huge risk and a great deal of trust to entrust Ginny, a former secretary, and design greenhorn without a degree, with designing his working clothes. Ginny vowed to repay his trust with an innovative, fashionable and practical working clothesline. So, Ginny beamed at him and answered him with sparkling eyes.

"Sage, I can't fathom how much you believe in my abilities as a fashion designer and my integrity as a person, to grant me this amazing opportunity. Although I still feel like taking advantage of your generosity because I don't think that my fee for my work as your working clothes fashion designer equals my tuition fees and you also offer me a platform to make myself known as a fashion designer, I can't say no to your deal. I would be delighted to design your working clothes, plan the whole line with you and get to know you better because I felt an instant connection with you and can't wait to hear more about your story. I never experienced these deep feelings of blind understanding, open talking and warm security with any other guy that I only knew for about three hours and I'm really honored to call you my friend. After our heart-to-heart talk, I feel so free, hopeful and happy and my heart is buzzing with excitement, that I can't recall feeling so good on any day in the last four years. I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening patiently and without prejudices to my story, empathizing with me and opening my eyes to start living my dreams. Our talk really changed my outlook on life and gave me hope to master a fresh start in life like you did. Besides that, I really am awed by your courage and trust to share your life story without sugarcoating your dark past with me because I can know that talking about oneself's shadow parts and failures is never easy.

I suggest that we exchange our Floo Network numbers and addresses now so that we can communicate per owl or Floo in the next coming weeks more easily. If you don't use a specialist firewall against charms, we could also exchange our messages more easily with a Patronus charm messenger, but I can imagine that this would be more difficult for you because you never know when you receive my message and it could disturb you during taxing meetings or tricky experiments, so that I think we should relay on owls and the Floo at the beginning. After we have worked out a schedule, we should communicate via the Patronus messenger, because it is more like talking to each other in person. We can outline some first ideas this night but I regretfully need to go home very soon because my boss expects me at 7:30 am in the office. There, I will quit my job tomorrow for the end of January and submit my vacation for the remaining two weeks to focus on applying to the University, planning your clothing line and research the newest trends in magical fashion design, so that you can reach me practically 24/7 at Grimmauld Place. By the end of this week, we should meet in person, perhaps in a nice restaurant, to talk about your expectations of your working clothes and my first sketches. After that, we should meet twice a week, if your busy schedule allows it, to talk about the progress in my designs and get to know each other better. Because our talk helped me a lot and I could really use a friend. So, Sage, do you agree with my plans?", Ginny questioned Sage with a twinkle in her amber eyes.

Sage was blown away by her change in spirits and couldn't wait to see her smiling more often in the future. He assured Ginny, that he was glad to have her as a friend too, their talk also deliberated himself and he believed in her extraordinary eye for fashion because he admired her outfit which was undoubtedly her own creation. He agreed enthusiastically to her outlined plans and after exchanging their addresses, talking some more about their daily routines and the basic key points of their planned working clothesline, sharing another drink and enjoying the company of each other, Sage and Ginny bid each other farewell and promised to stay in touch per owl and Floo.


	9. Chapter 8 - Fresh start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you to enjoy. Thanks for reading my story.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Office, Ministry of Magic, London, January 2000

Ginny Weasley put her last personal items in her box and sighed heavily. She smoothed out her long red curls, looked around in her former working environment and processed the life-changing decision she made today. Deep down, she knew that she made the right move by quitting her job today at this month's end and submitting her remaining vacation for the remaining ten days because she absolutely hated the meaningless, dullness and daily routine of being a secretary and in this state of mind she wasn't able to do her job without errors or to represent the Ministry with joy and a happy smile. Sure, she put up an act for the last several months to please her boss and do her job as efficient as possible so that her canceling came as a huge shock to Albert Turner and he tried to talk her out of it but the fact that he hadn't noticed Ginny's false smiles and lackluster work only emphasized Ginny's decision to start fresh. Because, if nobody at your office even cared enough or looed you in your eyes often enough to notice that you didn't feel alright and were visibly unhappy doing your job, you should probably quit your job anyways. What did it say about her department, the Ministry and the Wizarding world in general, that they wouldn't notice the sorrows of their employees or citizens and after they confessed them, they only cared for their lost working capacity or the bad light it shed on them but not the wellbeing or happiness of the human beings involved? Were the most humans in the magical world really this ignorant, self-observed and superficial that they didn't see what was in front of their eyes? Sure, Ginny knew that everyone in the magical world was still deeply scarred by the horrors of the war but in her opinion, that wasn't an excuse to not paying attention to the emotions and mindsets of your family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances.

Anger, disappointment, and disbelief boiled up in Ginny as she thought back to her brief talk with Mr. Turner. He read her notice to quit at first disinterested, then, after noticing its content, his eyebrows shot to his hairline, his eyes widened in shock and he uttered utterly perplexed, but in an accusing tone, "Well, Miss Weasley. I really didn't see that one coming. You usually were always so polite, easy to talk to and doing your job without any complaints, that I never thought you hated it or were unhappy with it. Have you really thought this through? It's never too late to change your mind, tear this notice into pieces and forget all about it. I assure you, that I won't mention your momentarily lost in your power of judgment to anyone else and I won't hold it against you in the future. But I really expected more restraint and stamina from the war heroine and daughter of Molly and Arthur Weasley. You father will really be devastated to learn about your poor choices. And to take the remaining ten days off so that you never have to set a foot in this office again or can chill at home isn't only unfair, cowardly and immoral, but also a grave mistake on your part, because lazy quitters don't make it to the top anywhere. So please be reasonable, tear this note into pieces and go back to work", Mr. Turner had ended his poor attempt to change Ginny's mind by giving her a guilty conscience and appealing to her senses with a raised voice and a hammer with his fist on the desk.

Ginny was so angry at his audacity to question her power of judgment, treat her like an insolent child and drag her parents into the conversation, that she had only raised one eyebrow, looked him dead in the eye and sneered in a venomous, acid tone, "Thank you for your concerns, Mr. Turner. But I won't back down and withdraw my notice. Instead, I will pack my remaining personal items into a box and leave this office as fast as I can. And to make one thing absolutely clear: I know exactly what I'm doing, respected the cancellation period and I'm entitled to vacation, so don't go around dragging my reputation through the mud or shedding a negative light onto my parents' education capacities. So, have a nice life and good luck in finding a new secretary." Ginny had turned calmly around, walked swiftly out of his office and left a flabbergasted Mr. Turner behind.

Reminiscing with a sly smile on her lips about her rebel response to her boss, Ginny smoothed out the wrinkles in her modest, mustard-yellow midi sheath dress, put her self-designed, dark green and made of the softest, biologically cultivated cotton duffle coat with beautiful ruffles on its sleeves and seam as well as little buttons in rose shape on, took her packed box into her arms, looked for the last time around the office and left it feeling free and happy. She couldn't believe how good it felt to talk her arrogant, self-centered ex-boss down, quit her job and do the things she liked without any consideration to the societal expectations of the Wizarding world. Sure, Ginny would undoubtedly have to face the backlash in the form of some mocking report by Rita Skeeter in the "Daily Prophet" but this didn't concern her anymore. So Ginny stepped into the Floo network, stated her destination as the "University of Witchcraft and Wizardry, London" in a clear and confident voice and left the Ministry in a swirl of green flames. After registering in the fashion design and business economics courses, that would start on Avril, 1st, getting a huge package of informative brochures, documents, lists, and schedules, that she needed to read, fill out or transfer money to before the start of the new semester and receiving a short guided tour through the University, Ginny felt carefree and happy. She had managed her fresh start, now she only needed to inform her family about her life changes. With a little discomfort in her stomach, Ginny directly apparated to the Burrow.

The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, January 2000

Landing a little unsteady on the snow-covered fields around the Burrow, Ginny kept her balance, magically shrank her box and papers to put them in her coat's pocket, rightened her clothes and looked with bright amber eyes around the beautiful landscape. She loved coming home, seeing the wide fields of wheat or colorful flowers, that were now covered under a white, icy and calm blanket of snow, and breathing in the fresh country air. Ginny inhales deeply, turned around and studied her lovely, chaotic parental home. Until today it still looked like a mismatched, homely work of great magical architecture and arts, although after its reconstruction due to the devastating brand, the different pieces and color patterns seemed to harmonize better and the Burrow lost its somewhat shabby and fragile look. The Weasley's only used the best building materials and durable, natural floors for the reconstruction, that they financed with all of their saving, some money out of a Funds for war victims, their prize money for their Order of Merlins as well as a small inheritance from a grandaunt and planned, organized and converted into reality with the help of a renowned magical construction company. Sure, it still looked more chaotic or deformed like any other house she knew, but this mismatched construction made out his unique charm. In every corner, the Burrow pulsed with magical energies, evoked warm feelings or attacked your mind with happy, wonderful memories. Ginny loved being here, although she felt a little bit queasy today because she would need to confront her parents with her fresh start.

Deep down, Ginny knew, that her mum and dad only wanted her to be happy, have a steady job and share her life with a kind, intelligent and loyal man who loved her unconditionally. Ginny imagined, that especially her mum, Molly, always guessed that this man would be the famous Savior of the wizarding world, Harry Potter because Ginny had a crush on him since seeing him for the first time, shared her sorrows over his short relationship with Cho Chang to her, asked her about some advice to gain his interest and expressed her happiness about the early days of their romance to her. Her mum would really be blindsided by their split in the near future and possibly feel crushed because she always dreamed of welcoming her kind of foster son Harry due to his marriage to Ginny officially into her family. But Ginny didn't want to break the news of their failed romance to her parents today, so she dismissed her depressing thoughts and focused on how to tell them about her quitted job and enrolment at University. She could imagine that her parents, especially her dad, Arthur, wouldn't be too thrilled about her decision to quit her job in the Ministry, dismissing her boss, Mr. Tuner, with harsh words and studying something with unsteady future prospects because good manners like treating your bosses with respect, showing other people kindness and sticking to the rules were always important to them and they expected from every one of their children to carry them out and also to make a carer. Sure, Ginny knew that he always encouraged his children to live their dreams and supported their career choices, but she also could understand his initial disappointment and lack of understanding, especially since he helped her in securing her position in the Ministry. She could imagine her mum initially breaking out into tears, questioning herself as a good role model and demanding answers but she was sure that she would encourage her plans and support her in establishing herself as a fashion designer in the end because her mum always praised her for her creativity, talents and practical skills in fashion design.

Ginny walked with steady steps to the Burrow, the icy wind send her red curls flying through the air and gave her cheeks a rosy glow. After one last deep breath, Ginny stepped through the front door and was instantly hugged by her enthusiastic mum, who had been cooking something delicious over the stove because the smell of fresh herbs, roasted chicken and rosemary lingered in the air. Molly beamed at Ginny, took her face into her hands and kissed her lovingly on her right cheek. It seemed like Molly had a good day today, as she didn't tear up or looked with dull, sapphire blue eyes through space or she improved her acting skills and could now pretend to be happy while feeling miserable inside. Ginny didn't know which suggestion was right but she hoped, that Molly processed her grief and survivor's guilt better these days and was now able to start healing. So, Ginny returned her beaming smile and waited for her aimless, usual fussing.

"Oh, Ginny, my dear. What a welcome surprise, that you visit your dear old mum on Fridays. I hope that everything is fine, because shouldn't you be still working at this time? Did something happen? You just seem to be so carefree, happy and self-confident, totally different than the last times I saw you, so I wonder if anything positive did occur? Did you get a promotion?", Molly asked her little girl with an inquiring look.

"Honestly, mum. I don't know what your secret is but you always know when something big changed in my life. You are right, I feel completely free and hopeful to fulfill my dreams. The reason for this isn't a promotion but a change in careers. I quitted my job at the Ministry today and will attend the University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London in fashion design and business economics courses from Avril on. Before you question my poor choices, please let me explain my decision to you". Ginny noticed Molly's face getting as white as chalk, her eyes going wide and her mouth standing open, likely gathering her marbles to shout her down for her stupid decision, but before she could utter a word, Ginny explained her reasoning process.

"Look, mum. I imagined that you would be shocked and furious with my decision to leave the Ministry and start fresh at the University at first because I exchanged a steady income and job with career prospects against studies without any payment or guarantee of helping me to establish a successful fashion business, but I needed to make this change to be happy again. And you know, that designing my own clothes, researching about the newest fashion trends and drawing my own fashion sketches made me the happiest in my youth. Believe me, I know that I can't turn back time and recreate the emotions of my happy teenage years by starting to design again, but I know from the bottom of my heart that only fashion design challenges me, inflames my passion and shots endorphins through my body, so that I felt the need to start studying it. I'm also aware, that my studies don't guarantee that I will be a successful fashion designer or fill witches and wizards with enthusiasm for my designs, but I need to take this risk because I otherwise wouldn't forgive myself. Ten years from now, I would only mourn my missed chances and hate my dull life as Ministry official, so that I really need to fulfill my dreams now. If you ask yourself how I'm going to pay the tuition fees, the CEO of "The Prince's Perfect Potions", Sage Prince, offered me to pay them in exchange for my work as a fashion designer, that will design his employees new working clothes. We're in the early stages of planning this working clothesline, but I'm extremely happy and grateful for his belief in my skills as a designer and this great opportunity. In addition to that, I will start looking for an internship or an odd job in the fashion industry, so that I will still earn some money. I also hope to sell some self-designed clothing pieces during my studies, so you don't have to be concerned about me. So, mum, can you comprehend my decision now? Do you support my fresh start?", Ginny asked her mum with a vulnerable, but hopeful look in her eyes.


	10. Chapter 9 - Moving on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> Another update for you to enjoy. I really hope that you still like reading my story and would appreciate some reviews.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Chapter 9 – Moving on

The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, January 2000

Molly Weasley was still stunted into silence by the news of her only daughter. She couldn’t compose herself enough to utter her total disappointment, rage and primarily concern in some harsh words. She always thought that her little girl had everything under control, could handle her life without her naggings and aimed for a higher position in the Ministry. Ginny always had clear visions of her future and tried to turn them into reality. As a little girl, she loved to dress her favorite dolls into fancy dresses, but their money troubles didn’t allow them to buy her a set of different ones, so Ginny used her accidental magic to change them to her liking. As a second year, it was her dream to gain a position on the Gryffindor-Quidditch-Team in the future, so Ginny improved her physis, played Quidditch daily with her brothers during vacation and started to play with more confidence, as a consequence for her efforts, she eventually joined the team. As a teenager, Ginny had a crush on Harry and dreamed of marriage and children with him in the future, so she tried to gain his attention by dressing up, making him jealous with little teenage romances and being a good friend to him, therefore he developed feelings for her, reciprocated her love and asked her to be his girlfriend. Now, they enjoyed the passions, happiness, and excitements of being in love. Sure, Molly knew, that the war also left scarres on her daughter's soul, especially her tortures by the Carrows and the death of Fred, but Ginny always was such a strong, defiant and self-confident young woman, that Molly believed in her well-developed coping mechanisms.

Naturally, Molly wasn’t so self-absorbed with her own psychological issues and grief not to notice Ginny’s lack of a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, happy smiles on her lips or a carefree spring in her steps, but Molly trusted in her ability to open up about her sorrows to her family and friends. And every time Molly had asked Ginny if something was bothering her, she looked her straight in the eyes and responded that everything was fine, she just missed Harry terribly or had a bad day at work. Molly didn’t question the truth of her answers because she had been sure, that Ginny wouldn’t lie to her or mask her unhappiness. Arthur and she had always tried to bring up all of their children with values like honesty, respect, tolerance, kindness, and politeness, to establish in them the knowledge, that they could talk with them about everything that bothered or burdened them without fears or a sense of shame and to not pressure them with career goals or surreal societal expectations, because they only wanted them to be happy, feel loved and trust in them. Perhaps, Molly didn’t know her daughter’s emotions, dreams and burdens as well as she thought, she realized wistfully. Her own demons must have made he ignorant and insensitive to the emotions of her loved ones because before the war she noticed with one look in their eyes if something was wrong. Sure, Molly knew that her own battle with depression numbed her feelings, her compassion for others somewhat, and blocked her observing skills because she couldn’t handle all the waring emotions and unhappy faces without being reduced to tears. She also noticed, that her family wanted to shelter her and walked around eggshells in their interactions with her in the first months, a fact, that really saddened her more and cut her to the quick, because she couldn’t resume her role as the strong mother-hen, who smothered her kids with affection or scolded them with fury for their foolish acts, if they didn’t talk openly with her. At first, she felt isolated and useless as a mother, but her therapy sessions after her nervous breakdown taught her to accept her feelings and negative thoughts, show her vulnerability and talk about her emotions with her family. She didn’t have to be ashamed of her depression and could only start getting better by letting her family in again and robbing them of their false belief to do her a favor by sheltering her. Perhaps, Molly thought naïvely that Ginny comprehend this and would talk openly with her. Alas, it seemed, that she had bottled everything up in herself, without talking to her friends or family, and masked her unhappiness and despair behind a mask of faked cheerfulness and satisfaction.

Molly knew, that screaming at her for her dishonesty or deception, wouldn’t help Ginny one bit and would only cause her hurt, negative feelings as well as distress and would likely only drive her more into isolation, so she ruled her facial expressions and stated to Ginny’s anxious sounding request, “Ginny, I can’t act as if I’m pleased with your decision to quit your job and start studying courses in the highly public, vicious and often times unfair fashion business, but I support your new way of life nonetheless. I hope that you are aware that your dad and I only want you to be happy and achieve something in life. If you decided for yourself, that your current life situation and job made you unhappy and you felt like missing out on something important, I’m proud of you for admitting this hurtful truth to yourself and having the courage to change something about it. I’m pleased that you thought your change in careers through, have already enrolled at university and secured your first deal with a renowned company because this proves that you didn’t act impulsive and without a concrete plan in your head, but I can’t stop to warn you in advance. I can imagine that the fashion business is a tough, merciless and often times bullying environment, in which your success depends heavily on the whims of your customers, the rules of the business market, the critics of the fashion experts and the opinions of the press so that you will be constantly in the limelight, exposed to the praises or mockings of the public and very little privacy. I know that you can handle this pressure and are exceptionally talented in creating your own, uniques fashion designs, but I wanted to point out some of the shadow sides of being a famed fashion designer. Stay assured, that we, your whole family, will always support you, defend your reputation, buy your designs or lend you sympathetic ears, but you should start growing yourself a thick skin, because the start of your business, the backlash of the press and the reviews of your foes will be hard and time-consuming. That doesn’t mean, that I’m not proud of you for living your dreams. In the contrary, I’m especially proud of you for being brave enough to take these huge risks and face every challenge, that life as a fashion designer will implement. Know, that you can always talk with us without fears or shame, because we love you unconditionally, Ginny,” Molly ended her long monologue by stepping in front of Ginny, shedding some tears and taking her in a loving embrace. Overwhelmed by the support of her mum, Ginny started to break down in sobs and enclosed her mum in a tight embrace.

She mumbled between sobs, with a tear-stained face and hoarse voice, “Oh, mum. … You can’t imagine how relieved I’m to hear your positive reaction. … It really means the world to me that I will always be loved and supported,” Ginny composed herself, looked her mum gratefully in her sapphire eyes and stroked her cheek lovingly, before starting to talk in a more steady, clear voice, “I know that should have talked to you or dad, opened up about my sorrows and discussed my career paths with you but I felt too afraid of your judgement and too ashamed of my supposed failure, that I bottled everything up in myself. I know that I need to work on my psychological issues like the nightmares with images of my tortures that still hunt my dreams, my anxiety disorder to disappoint my family or my low self-confidence so that I have decided to have therapy sessions with a Muggle psychologist, that I friend of mine recommended to me. I promise you that I will use all my energies to find my way to happiness again and start moving on from the horrors of the war. But these changes will take time and I can’t promise you to always discuss any progress with you. I also know that their will likely be some setbacks and difficult obstacles on my way, but I will try to master them as best as I can.”

Molly studied her daughter with mixed emotions of sadness, pride, and astonishment battling in her heart and answered her honestly, “Ginny, I know that you can master anything you want because you’re a strong, independent and brave young women with a kind heart, a sharp mind, and an open worldview. I’m proud that you have decided to work on your psychological issues with professional help. From my experience, I trust that this will slowly heal your wounds. But let’s stop talking about distressing things, tell me all about your dreams and how you managed to get a deal with the mysterious, brilliant CEO of “The Prince’s Peferct Potions”, Sage Prince, so fast? ,” Molly needled her daughter nosily because she wanted to have some gossip and lighten the mood.

Ginny blushed, tried to control her facial expressions and answered in a business-like tone, to not make her mum suspicious, “Mum, really, must you always needle me for some gossip? Actually, I met Sage Prince just yesterday in a London pub, where we exchanged our life stories and realized that we are kindred spirits because we are both hunted by the ghosts of our pasts and search for a way to be happy. I know that this story sounds bad, like we stumbled upon each other in a shady pub, drowning our sorrows in alcohol and pouring our hearts out to the next person who would listen, but it wasn’t like that,” Molly raised an eyebrow, signaling her to go on and listening with rapt attention, “Sage noticed our instead connection as well, made me the offer to listen to my story in an exchange for his and encouraged me to start living my dreams, because he moved on from some bad things in his life two years ago and started to focus all his energies on researching, inventing and improving potions, cures, and remedies together with his employees. 

He opened my eyes and reassured me, that it was still possible for me to be happy again and study fashion design. As I mentioned my financial woes, he generously offered to pay my tuition fees in exchange for my work on a new working clothesline for his company. Naturally, I needed to take this chance because working for such a famous, respected and renowned company could really bust my reputation as a fashion designer and Sage became my friend in such a short time, that I couldn’t say no. I know that you will probably caution me to not take advantage of his generosity and feel indebted to him, so that he can make me do things that I'm not comfortable with, but I can guarantee you, that Sage would never hurt my trust by demanding inappropriate things, mocking my skills as a fashion designer or talking bad about me, because he is a kind-hearted, nice young man with values, manners, and decency.”

Molly looked a little doubtful but gave away her mistrust in the end. “Ginny, I trust in your ability to judge character and your intellectual faculties, so that I believe your description of Sage Prince. Naturally, I don’t know him and everything I heard about him comes directly from gossip papers, the “Daily Prophet” or talks of other people, so you can never know what is a true story or totally rubbish. Besides that, the most reports praise him for his genius potion skills, his generosity in donating and ambition to invent new potions as well as cures to the benefit of the Wizarding World. So, I’m really excited for you, that can meet such a well-respected wizarding, get to know him better and design some clothes for him. When you see him the next time, thank him in my name for waking my little girl up and instilling some hope into her. But let’s talk about your first ideas or sketches for new fashion designs because your aura always sparkles with excitement when you talk about fashion and design. So, what does a modern witch wear today?”

Molly and Ginny spend the rest of the afternoon talking about new colors, materials, and patterns, that were trendy in the Wizarding world, and how Ginny wanted to combine them in her designs. The time moved quickly as they chatted pleasantly with a cup of tea and a slice of cake about her ideas, first sketches and next steps on the way to her first clothing line. Ginny felt carefree, happy and didn’t have to fake her smiles, so she recognized, that moving on and starting fresh could not only be deliberating but also a lot of fun.


	11. Chapter 10 - Missing you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like reading this story. Thanks for your support.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Chapter 10 – Missing you

Potion’s laboratory, The Prince’s Perfect Potions Company, London, January 2000

Sage Prince tried to focus his thoughts on the complex Potions book about the interactions of different unstable ingredients, that he read to discover the error that he and his employees had made regarding the potential cure for lycanthropy, but his mind failed to concentrate on the taxing matter. He couldn’t focus his eyes on the written words, instead, he zoned out and reflected on his meeting with Ginny two days ago. He still couldn’t believe that the strong, ambitious and vicious Gryffindor student of his past, was utterly unhappy today and struggled with her life. Sure, he could sympathize with her unhappy romance, her PTSD and her feeling of being lost, because he only experienced his unhappy obsession with Lily with regard to his love life, battled with his own hasty reactions, anxiety attacks, and black-outs when he saw a huge snake or a disfigured witch of his past and felt utterly lost and alone sometimes in his second chance in life. Sure, he was utterly grateful for his second chance at life, where he could fulfill his dreams of creating revolutionary potions, working in Potions research and doing experimental trials, inherited a huge amount of money and potions company from the Princes so that he would never have to worry about paying his bills, affording the newest Potions cauldrons or living in a nice, luxury home, in fact, he owned three real estates in Great Britain alone: Prince Cottage in Cornwall, Prince Manor in Wiltshire and his London Apartment, and start finding love and happiness as a hansome, wealthy and intelligent mid-twenty-years-old, but he oftentimes felt like a cheat, thief, and monster, that lived a fake life, robbed someone else of his second chance and only caused sorrow.

Logically, he knew, that he helped many witches and wizards with his potions creations and charity work. He helped to raise a new awareness of mental diseases and their treatment methods in the Magical world by creating a based on the genetics of his patients, highly effective and easily digestible Anti-Depression-Potion, he reduced the chronical pains and long-time sufferings of war veterans by producing a new, more effective and long-lasting Pain Potion or he assisted the Aurors in putting the remaining Death Eaters to justice by inventing a revolutionary, flawless Tracking Potion, that could locate anyone with a Dark Mark in anywhere, regardless of the magical means like Clocking Spells, Fidelius Charm or Polyjuice Potion that the Death Eaters used on their flight to stay hidden. Besides that, Sage donated a huge amount of his money yearly to Funds like “The War Orphans and Widows Funds”, “The Funds for Disabled Magicians” or “The Prevention and Education Funds of/about Dark Arts”, financed a new orphanage with nice nurses, educated teachers and well-maintained rooms for magical children, Squibs and Muggles and donated a lot of money to research projects or St. Mungo's. Although he wanted to help rebuild the Wizarding World, redeem himself for his past deeds and heal wizards and witches with his potions genius, he sometimes thought mockingly, that all his good deeds or revolutionary healing potions weren’t inspired by his will to do good or the goodness from the bottom of his pure heart, but pushed by his attempt to escape his past, to erase the existence of Severus Snape or to pacify his bad conscience. In these dark moments, he felt like a fraud and wanted desperately to expose himself as the de-aged, polished and wealthier version of the former Death Eater, war criminal, Bat of the Dungeons and Slytherin bastard, Severus Snape, because the public, his employees, and the press would tear him apart for the monster that he was and not celebrate him for the saint he seemed to be. 

Sage naturally couldn’t move on from his darker, unloved and cruel former alter-ego Severus Snape and sometimes wished, that the magical society would confront him with his past demons, hate him for his inhuman actions and put him to justice because he sometimes couldn’t stand the praise, gratitude, fame, and esteem connected with his new life as Sage Prince. Every time some well-wishers praised him for his selfless, genius service for the Magical world, a voice in Sage head reminded him, that he was responsible for the deaths, disfigurements, severe injuries and traumas of thousand of wizards, witches, Muggles and quibs and that he had helped – at one point in his life – to inflame the Wizarding world with racism, violence, hatred, and darkness that nearly tore her apart. Thanks to his sessions with the Muggle psychologist, he learned to control these dark thoughts better and start coming to terms with his past life as Severus Snape and his fresh start as Sage Prince slowly. But they still lured in the back of his mind, and only his heart-to-heart tale with Ginny helped him to process them a bit more because she could understand his demons perfectly.

His feeling of connection to Ginny and their seemingly blind understanding was really remarkable on many sides. On one side, he knew that he should theoretically feel really guilty, sad and devasted by his talk with Ginny because her PTSD issues were caused by his cowardice, passiveness, and absence as a Headmaster of Hogwarts. He realized, that he had needed to act as the cruel, sadistic right-hand men of Tom Riddle to deceive his Death Eater brethren and maintain his cover as a spy, but he nonetheless regretted his inactivity and failure as a protector to his students. He often debated with himself, that he could have sent more students into detentions with Hagrid, Minerva or Fillius or bewitched the minds of the Carrows so that they thought they had tortured and punished students without doing it in reality, but he knew, that such manipulations would have been extremely dangerous for his position as a spy and probably endangered his whole mission, so that he tried to come to terms with his failures. And in his honest talk with Ginny, his guilt, compassion, and regrets tried to overwhelm him, because he needed to face one of his victims with his own eyes, see her dull, from insomnia and sorrows tired, amber eyes, hear her confess her inner battles with PTSD, sadness and emotional scars in a monotone voice and feel her unhappiness and despair in every fibre of his body, but he didn’t break down, because he realized that he could help Ginny in healing her scars and being happy again.

So, one the other side, this talk with Ginny gave him the hope to redeem himself for his sins, to transfer hope and happiness into a lost young woman and to start healing due to this friendship to Ginny himself. For the first time in his existence as Sage Prince, he felt like he could help a broken soul heal only by talking to her, exchanging their life stories, giving her some advice and supporting her as a friend on her new way of life. Sage knew, that he betrayed Ginny’s trust by not outing himself as the de-aged, wealthy and popular version of her former Potions master, and this thought burdened him heavily, but he vowed to himself, that he would uncover his true identity after they had established a close friendship. He understood, that his deception would undoubtedly drive a deep rift through their friendship when he revealed his true identity to her, but he was too selfish, vulnerable and fearful to disclose his true identity to her because he couldn’t miss the chance to have a real friend, if he really looked at it without sugarcoating anything, his first real friend, who could understand his inner battles between light and darkness, truth and deceit as well as extrovertedness and introversion and still like him. He imagined the chances, that Ginny would confess her darkest secrets, her biggest dreams and her greatest regrets to her former, disliked Potions Professor and offer him her friendship, were close to zero, therefore Sage tried to stick in his stories close to the truth and show Ginny the real him, not the deceitful, dark, bitter and cruel former Death Eater, a role, Sage needed to play for twenty years of his life. He hoped that Ginny could forgive him his betrayal in the future because she realized, that Sage didn’t play a role and put on an act to gain her friendship, trust and compassion, but showed him his new character, the real Sage Prince with all his dark and bright sides, all his regrets and hopes, all his nightmares and dreams. 

Besides that, Sage really wanted to help Ginny, be a friend to her and support her on her new way in life. He realized that he could help her to live her dreams by paying her tuition fees, making her name as a fashion designer known and using his contacts in the fashion scene as well as the media to bust her career. For Sage, money didn’t play an important role, because he inherited so much from the Princes, that he sometimes doesn’t know what to do with it. Therefore, he really could use some money to fulfill Ginny’s dreams of studying fashion design and business economics in London. Especially since he knew from his own experiences, how difficult it was to grow up in a family with money issues and how hard Ginny otherwise would have to work to earn the money to pay her fees. Sage could imagine that Ginny wouldn’t avoid her workload and probably already looked for a paid internship in the fashion industry to at least afford her lifestyle as a student and gain some practical insights into the designing business because she only agreed to take his money after negotiating a deal about a new, practical working clothesline for “The Prince’s Perfect Potions” to stop her feelings of taking advantage of his generosity or being indebted to him from coming up and possibly endanger their new friendship by creating a disbalance in power between them, so that Sage knew that she wasn’t out for his money. 

Sage really appreciated her attempt to establish herself as an independent, creative young woman, who didn’t want to take advantage of her friends or accept money that she didn’t work for, so he offered her the deal with his new working clothesline out of respect for her principals and belief in her abilities as a fashion designer. Sure, he knew that Ginny was a nineteen-years-old greenhorn, who had never designed any clotheslines or worked on producing fashionable, practical and unique working clothes for the Potions industry, but Sage trusted her eye for fashion, her talents in Charms, Transfiguration and Arts as well as her flair for organization and enthusiasm for her dream job to guarantee a beautiful, trendy and revolutionary working clothesline. Sage really put all his faith in her talents, ambitions, and truthfulness because he really wanted her to be successful, to surf on a wave of success and be acknowledged as a new star in the fashion scene so that he supported her where he could. And he was aware, that her designing job for his company could be a career springboard for her because the public trusted his decisions and the press reported only in praise about him. Consequently, her being the designer of his working clothes, would put her in the spotlight, gain the interests of other companies and possible clients, especially, since Ginny was a war heroine herself and the current girlfriend of the Savoir of the Wizarding world, Harry Potter, their cooperation would make headlines. Sage hoped, that he could keep the negative comments, that would undoubtedly arrive due to her late studying, her career changes and status as the, albeit unhappy, girlfriend of Harry Potter, to a minimum because Ginny didn’t deserve it to be the victim of some smear campaign or bullying from the press for fulfilling her dreams.

Sage gave up on his attempt, to get anything accomplished today by reading this book about ingredient interactions. First, he needed to pen a letter to Ginny telling her about his bad day in office and asking her to a nice little, secluded Muggle Café in London, because his thoughts only stayed with her and he missed her as his new, loyal friend, who would listen to his problems, talk freely with him and encourage him to think outside the box, terribly. He realized that these feelings were perhaps insane and too soon and he wouldn’t want to be obsessed with her as he had been with Lily, but he really missed her as a friend and could use some positive news or something to look forward to on this taxing day at work. Besides that, he wasn’t crazy about her like he was about Lily because he didn’t idealize her or thought about her romantically. Sure, Ginny was a beautiful, young redhead with amber eyes, that he was attracted to, wanted to get to know better and see smiling, but foremost, he wanted to talk to his friend and know about the exciting changes in her life. So he penned her the following letter in the hopes, that she would want to meet him again in person so soon, and tied it on the leg of his onyx-black owl, Arcturus.

 

Dear Ginny,

I hope that you are doing well and have already enrolled at the University in London. I also trust that you are currently working eagerly on the first fashion sketches and ideas for my ordered working clothesline. I wish you good fortune in researching the newest materials, patterns and colors for working clothes. 

Although I know, that we agreed to only correspond via owl or the Floo network in the first few days, I wanted you to ask, if you were interested in joining me in the Muggle Café “Rose Garden” in London for a cup of tea and a slice of apple cake, because I really miss talking to you, want to see you in person again and could use some company due to a bad day in office. So what do you say? Could you take a break and meet me at 4 PM in the café? 

I hope that you will say yes, but if you can’t make it on this short notice, I won’t hold it against you, promised.

Yours  
Sage


	12. Chapter 11 - Rose garden emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like reading this story. Thanks for your support.
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Chapter 11 – Rose garden emotions

Café “Rose Garden”, London, January 2000

Ginny thrummed nervously with her freshly manicured, painted nude nails on the coffee table. Although she knew, that the clock only displayed 3:45 PM, she waited impatiently, with buzzing butterflies in her stomach and a feeling of coming home, for Sage to arrive. She couldn’t believe, that he had this strong effect on her emotions. Sure, she loved their openness and closeness with each other after such a short time, missed his encouraging words, positive aura and compassionate eyes like she would with a best friend, but the fact, that she also missed his affectionate smiles, his encouraging touches and intoxicating scent like she would with a lover, told her, that she had most likely a crush on him. She didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing because she wanted to establish, a professional, well-functioning working relationship with him on the one hand so that their potential personal entanglements as more than just friends could complicate things for her career as a fashion designer, on the other hand, she wanted to know everything about him, intensify their natural connection and them to be happy so that a potential romance could possibly be the key to shared happiness, satisfaction, and unconditional love as well as personal success as a fashion designer or CEO of a Potions company. For being in a fulfilled, happy relationship often times redounded to the benefit of your working life: your creativity levels were higher, you could think more easily outside the box, your confidence in your abilities was highlighted and you worked without concerns or depressing thoughts, that otherwise burdened your mind and soul. So, Ginny wanted to act on her feelings, let fate decide and learn of Sage’s emotions towards her.

She knew that she should feel guilty towards Harry for going on a date with a man she was clearly attracted to, even considered to woo, while still being in a relationship with Harry but Ginny didn’t feel any remorse or guilt towards Harry, she only felt carfree, understood and deliberated while spending time with Sage. And if he returned her feelings, accepted her advances or even made the first step towards a romantical relationship with her, she would throw all safety, caution, and insecurities out of the window and be with him, regardless the hurt she would undoubtedly cause Harry or the societal scandal she would create. Sure, she knew that she sounded selfish, heartless and a bit foolish, because she only met Sage some days ago, but from the bottom of her heart and the core of her soul, she trusted him, wanted to be with him and spent every day of their lives talking about silly gossip or serious news, opening up about their issues as well as dreams to each other and loving one another unconditionally. She realized, that the most important thing in her life right now was to be happy again. 

And she felt, that she only could be happy in close proximity – hopefully, in form of a love affair – to Sage, because he was her kindred spirit, could sympathize with her psychological issues and war traumas and listened to her without any prejudices or judgments. He could see the real Ginny Weasley, the young woman, who desperately wanted to be a well-known fashion designer with a unique style, suffered from PTSD in silence to not burden her family or out of shame for her still obviously unhealed psychological war scars and stayed in a unhappy, doomed romance with her first love, Harry Potter, out of convenience and fears: the fear of disappointing her family, losing a good friend, breaking the expectations of the Wizarding world, facing the media backlash, admitting one’s failure or dying alone and unloved. She realized, that she should break it off with Harry before dreaming about her happily ever after with Sage, but she wasn’t strong enough for this confrontation at the moment with all the ground-shaking changes, that scattered her life in all directions right now. Ginny never expected herself to be someone, who would cheat on her boyfriend or distance herself from him, but she and Harry had slowly drifted apart, and, like a whirling leaf in the wind, their rift couldn’t be stopped, therefore they lived two separate lives without a common ground of unconditional love, complete trust, and blind understanding.

After their first phase of being newly in love as well as relieved to have survived the war passed, Ginny and Harry lost themselves in the delusions of their perfect romance. At first, they started to lose themselves as a couple: they didn’t reserve time for special dates, romantic strolls or hours spent together, instead, they solely focused on their education, battles with war traumas (Ginny) or rebuilding the Wizarding world (Harry). Consequently, they became estranged from each other, didn’t know how to react or what to talk about, when they were alone and lost the love, connection and trust between them. Sure, they still loved each other in some ways and would always hold a special place in each other’s hearts, but their love transformed into a love between good friends: without the urges to tear each other’s clothes off, need to touch each other constantly, want to kiss each other good-night or wish to spend their whole lives, as a couple happily in love, together. After stopping to exist as the inseparable couple “Ginny and Harry”, Ginny and Harry started to exist as themselves, two foreign planets, albeit, in the case of Ginny, she lost herself in the grief, sorrow, scars, and traumas after the war. She stopped fighting for her dreams, searching for her happiness or believing in herself, because she only wallowed in the despair, self-pity, traumas, and darkness without seeing a light on the horizon. 

At that time, she thought, if she could die any minute and stop existing, the only important thing in her life was the safety, closeness, and happiness of her loved ones, because all her achievements, fame or riches didn’t matter in the end. So she should stay close to her family, stop burdening them with her sorrows, act like a model daughter and focus on realistic life goals. Consequently, Ginny visited the Burrow as often as she could, hid her sorrows behind a mask of fake happiness to not add something to her mum’s issues, worked as a secretary at a secured, common ministry post and buried her dreams of studying fashion design and business economics in London. But this new outlook on life made Ginny utterly unhappy because she didn’t recognize herself anymore and felt like a little, society-approved robot, that didn’t have an own mind or heart so that it only fulfilled the expectations of others and stopped living for herself. The only difference between them was, that Ginny in reality still had a mind, that analyzed the reasons for her unhappiness razor-sharp, but still couldn’t encourage her to do something about it. Only her heart-to-heart talk with Sage opened her eyes wide and helped her to change her life drastically.

Ginny shook off her depressing thoughts, focussed on her fast-approaching date with Sage and studied the Muggle Café with a keen eye. Thanks to her dad’s fascination with anything Muggle, Ginn and her siblings grew up with many mysterious Muggle items and a deep respect for their creativity and inventive genius. Although her dad couldn’t explain the functioning of most items to them and tried to use them in a practical way, Ginny’s interests in the foreign, easy-going and marvelous Muggle culture and universe grew, so that she registered for Muggle studies in Hogwarts. Due to the lessons of the now deceased Charity Burbage, she could identify some Muggle devices like a television, a coffee machine, a computer or a toaster and knew about their love for animated movies, fast cars or a game called football. In this Café, she recognized a huge Muggle coffee machine, a cooling counter with many different, delicious looking cakes – apple cake, cheesecake, chocolate cake, fruit cakes, Gugelhupf, buttercream gateau – muffins, cupcakes, and desserts as well as an odd looking Muggle gadget which baked waffles. 

Everything was decorated in friendly, light beige tones: the walls were painted with a bright golden beige, the ceiling with a warm brown beige and the ground was covered by an expensive looking, warm cherry wood floor. Besides that, the upholstery of the chairs, benches and seating corners was made of soft, comfortable, decorated with regal looking ornaments, grey beige viscose, and the tablecloths were made of classic, grey beige silk. The only colorful spots were the bright pink flowers vases, that graced every table and were filled with white-pink, heavenly smelling roses, the bright pink lampshades, that hang from the ceiling above every table and a, composed of pink, white, powder and light green colors, painting of a lovely, typical English rose garden, that graced the wall opposite the glass façade. Ginny liked the café’s calming atmosphere, friendly color pattern and classic design because it helped her to compose her frantically beating heart and calm her nerves down.

Ginny had been enthusiastically working on new fashion sketches for Sage’s working clothes while happily humming one of her favorite songs, as his black owl, with the invitation to a lunch date in the London café “Rose garden” at 4 PM securely tied up on its left leg, knocked on her window, landed on her window-sill, hooded two times loudly and waited impatient for her to open her window. After she had opened the window, let the owl in and released it from its message, she fed it a cookie and sat at her desk to read the message. While reading it, a beaming smile graced her face and her amber eyes started to sparkle out of happiness, thanks to the fact, that Sage missed her, wanted to go on a lunch date with her at 4 PM and made the first step. Hastily, she searched for her parchment, quill as well as ink and after finding it, she penned him the following short response, which she tied on the leg of his waiting owl.

Dear Sage,

I’m overjoyed by your message and your invitation to a lunch date at 4 PM today, albeit I’m sorry to hear about your bad day in office. I hope that you still could do something productive today. I’ll gladly accept your invite because I could really use a break from drawing fashion sketches and long to see you again. Can’t wait for our date to begin.

Yours  
Ginny

Frantically searching for the right outfit to impress Sage without over-doing it, Ginny settled on a forest green, knee-length and slim-fitted sheath skirt, a cream, elegant and form-fitted silk blouse with a low neckline and a little, pink rose pattern on her right sleeve, forest green ankle boots and pink Corundum roségold jewelry: a solitaire ring in roségold with a huge pink Corundum surrounded by a sparkling white Zirconia-Pavé, cushion-formed Brisur-earrings in roségold with pink Corundums in a hammered optic surrounded by sparkling a sparkling white Zirconia-Pavé and a necklace in roségold with a huge pink Corundum charm in a hammered optic surronded by a sparkling white Zirconia-Pavé; all heirlooms from her maternal grandaunt, Matilda Prewett. Regarding her makeup and hair, Ginny opted for a natural look: minimal pink silver eyeshadow, black mascara, light pink rogue and shiny, rosé lipgloss as well as her natural wavy red hair. Ginny hoped to radiate feminine elegance, sensuality, and happiness because she really wanted to test the waters for a potential romance with Sage.

A sensual, deep baritone directing the words, “Hello, Ginny. I’m so glad that you could join me today and I must apologize for being a bit late, but the London traffic really is a disgrace sometimes. Have you already ordered anything?”, made Ginny snap out of her thoughts and created a queasy feeling in her stomach. As she looked Sage into his obsidian eyes, her emotions went on a rollercoaster ride in the midst of the “Rose Garden”.


	13. Chapter 12 - Flying thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like my story and am honored by your views. 
> 
> Best wishes,  
> charmed92

Chapter 12 – Flying thoughts

Café “Rose Garden”, Muggle London, January 2000

Sage Prince hurried in quick steps into the Muggle café “Rose Garden”, rounding passersby, that were talking in hushed tones to their mobile phones or tourists, that were trotting through London with packed backpacks on their backs, cameras hanging around their necks and a mag clutching in their hands. How he hated the busy street life and traffic of Muggle London. Although as a Half-Blood he knew some things about Muggle culture and their technical inventions, the speed of their “Digitale Revolution” overwhelmed him: larger mobiles, SMS, MMS, Chats, transportable PCs, faster internet. Sage didn’t know what the fuss was all about and couldn’t use a PC or couldn’t imagine what space the Internet was like. He knew that it was a shame, that he didn’t keep up with his Muggle roots. But since he had loathed his father, who never educated him about the Muggle culture besides beers, liquor, boxing, and football, it wasn’t important for him to be a valuable member of the Muggle society.

It sufficed him to know how to drive a car, listen to popular music or using the underground, he didn’t want to be a model Half-Blood, who could transfer easily between the Muggle and the Wizarding world because he felt alien in a Muggle city, alienated from his magical powers and potion skills. Besides that, he couldn’t be a model citizen in Great-Britain anyway because he didn’t have a Muggle education besides Elementary School, wasn’t registered in any documents besides his birth certificate and didn’t have enough knowledge in history, politics and science or skills in small talk, social behavior and managing your bank accounts, to vote for parliament or survive in the Muggle world. Sure, he knew how to buy food in a grocery store or how to travel via plane, bus or train, but he couldn’t file a tax return or buy real estate for himself. And it really didn’t matter that much to him, because the Wizarding world was his home and it was enough for him to know how to dress and act like a Muggle to don’t be stared at as some freak in public.

In addition, he loved to eat at a Muggle restaurant or café, visit a Muggle museum or see a movie in the Muggle cinemas so that he was glad to know how to behave in the Muggle world. But one thing he really despised about the Muggle society was its constant racket, rush and time pressure. The people he sometimes studied from his hotel suite window were constantly running, talking to someone on the phone or reading something in the news. It seemed like they didn’t spend one minute of their day reflecting their actions, relaxing on a couch or thinking about new ideas, because they constantly moved, worked or talked. So, in his opinion, it wasn’t a miracle that some Muggles cracked under the pressure and chaos at one point, often when they were in traffic. Insulting a biker, who had been driving slowly, aggressively on the trip to work, crashing deliberately into a rude car driver, who had ignored one’s right of way, or flipping a passer-by, who had laughed about one’s skills at parking a car, a bird. In Sage’s books, the daily stop-and-go traffic in London resembled a war zone and he was glad when he survived it without major injuries or insults, although his wasted time was a great nuisance. Therefore, Sage was glad that he arrived at the café “Rose Garden” late but safe.

He really hoped that Ginny would forgive him his unpunctuality and wouldn’t think, that he wanted to stand her up. On the contrary, he longed to see her beautiful face again, hear her honest opinions and work on some new ideas for their working clothesline. If he was being honest, he didn’t want to see Ginny primarily to talk about their fashion plans. He didn’t want to meet her as a business partner but as a friend and possibly a love interest. Sure, Sage knew that he was about to speed things up in their relationship really fast and his chances for conquering Ginny’s hear were slim because she suffered under her failed romance with Harry, didn’t know him long and well enough and worked frantically on her career as a fashion designer so that she hadn’t got the time and mind to look for romance, but he promised himself to confess some truths – having the hots for her, wanting to get to know her better, engaging in a romance with her. 

If she rejected him, he would admittedly be really devastated, but he would still be a friend to her, so that he would still be listening to her sorrows, give her some advice, pay her tuition fees and work with her on their working clothesline. Sure, he would do all these things with a broken heart and the feeling of being unloveable once again, but he hoped that he could be wizard enough to swallow his hurt feelings and support Ginny unconditionally on her quest for happiness.

Besides that, Sage felt, that Ginny was attracted to him because she sometimes gazed adoringly at him, blushed at his compliments or looked deep into his eyes with a look of wonder and happiness so that he might stand a chance after all. Therefore, he decided to throw all caution to the wind and go for it. His chances of finding love, sharing his life with his soulmate and being happy might be higher as he had ever dreamed about. Consequently, he did everything to impress his love interest. He had arranged a cozy date with apple cake and tea in a romantic Muggle café, clutched a lovely bouquet of pink roses in his hand and dressed himself up. He was clad in a smart black, tailored suit: a slim-fitted dark forest green shirt, midnight black trousers as well as jacket and shiny black Oxford shoes in calf leather. In addition, he styled his raven black short hair with hair gel into a neat hairstyle and wore his favorite perfume “Aqua di Gio” by Giorgio Armani, a fragrance with an aquatic, woody and aromatic scent thanks to its unique mix of citrus, geranium, sage, rosemary, patchouli and incense, after he had left his laboratory one hour ago to change and shower in his London flat. He wanted to look his best to woo her.

Sage realized, that his chances to woo Ginny only existed because he had been de-aged, visited a Medidentist to fix his crooked, yellow teeth, adjusted his multiple time's broken nose via a Healing Charm so that it was still huger than average, but straight, washed his shortened hair daily with a self-developed shampoo against greasiness and potions residues and worked out thrice a week. As his old self, Severus Snape, he wouldn’t have a single chance to be her friend or possibly lover because she would have rejected his interests at first sight. Sure, some women had overlooked his unattractive looks and prickly personality in favor of his mysterious aura, onyx black eyes, and magical powers, so that he had some flings and one-night stands as Severus Snape as well. Sure, most of these women were groupies of the Death Eaters or dark witches themselves, who used him to gain favor with the Dark Lord or express their dark sides, but occasionally, he also had a one-night stand with a Muggle woman he met at a bar or some old female Slytherin housemates. 

Due to his obsession with Lily, he could never love any of these women and their affairs didn’t go beyond sexual satisfaction. Besides his obsession with Lily, his role as a spy would have also prevented him from being in a serious relationship, married an/or having kids, because his loved ones would have been leverage to guarantee his loyalty or manipulate his actions, especially since the Dark Lord would have expected of him to educate his children in the Death Eaters ideology and rule over his wife. So, in retrospective, Sage was glad that he didn’t have any family to care for and protect during the Wizarding Wars because they would have been in constant danger and made his living as a spy only more difficult. 

In addition, Sage never had the dream of being a dad because he feared, that he would be rubbish at it. Thanks to his father being an abusive, violent and mean role model, Sage believed, that he would apply the educational methods of his bastard of a father – beating, screaming, bullying – intentionally, regardless how much he wanted to avoid them. He realized, that this fear was completely illogical because he was his own person, who could control his emotions and actions as well as spare his potential children his miserable childhood, so that he could shower them in affections, protect them from harm and educate them with values, morals, and manners, but he still believed in the power of the vicious cycle of violence, therefore images of an older version of him screaming at a little boy with his eyes haunted him in his nightmares. His fresh start at life gave him the opportunity, to overthink his opinion about fatherhood and reflect his attitude regarding kids.

Due to his donations for “The War Orphans Funds” or his fundings for a new orphanage, Sage constantly heard about the sufferings of many children after the war. He saw their hollow eyes, sad expressions, and hopeless mindstate, whenever he visited the orphanage, with his own eyes and their fates moved him deeply. So deeply, that he could imagine himself adopting an orphan in the near future, to gift him/her with a happier, wealthier and easier life, but especially to show them the meaning of love and family. Sure, he knew, that a life with him wouldn’t be easy for any child because he knew very little about caring for a child or how to bring him/her up, but he promised himself to be him/her the best dad imaginable. Besides, as Sage Prince, it was expected of him to marry a lovely wife and have some children with her in the future to transmit his name, wealth, real estate and potions company, so he had opened up to the topics of fatherhood and married life. Although he never really thought it possible to find love and happiness in his life.

His chance meeting with Ginny Weasley in the pub a few days ago changed this drastically. He now was sure, that he could live a happy life full of love, laughter, and success with Ginny by his side. Sure, he realized, that he was a fool for rushing everything so quick in his mind and dreaming about his happily ever after, especially since he suffered from his delusional Lily-obsession from the age of fourteen, but he knew from the bottom of his heart, that with Ginny everything would be different. On the one hand, he felt a deep, soulmate like connection to her unlike anything else he felt for another human being because they could understand each other blindly and help one another to heal, grow up and be happy. On the other hand, he knew, that she would never exclude him from her life or cancel any contact between them thanks to prejudices, insults or fights because she accepted his dark as well as his bright sides and learned in her life, that the world and humans couldn’t always be divided into black and white, dark and light or evil and good due to the different shades of grey that existed. Consequently, he trusted that he could count on her in every difficult phase in his life and he intended to be there for her in every way possible as well. So, Sage stepped with a fast pumping heart into the “Rose Garden” with the determined mindset to woo Ginny.


End file.
